Kill or be killed
by Jaine1324
Summary: Welcome to the sixty-seventh Hunger Games! We all know that in the arena there is only one rule... Kill or be killed. Alliences will form and fall, tributes will suffer as will their heart broken families, watching back home; the Capitol will sponser their favourite tributes out of pure exictment. Who will kill? Who will be killed? ...Who will return home a victor? Please R&R.
1. Tribute List

**Hey Everyone! Welcome to the 67th Hunger Games! I will try my best to update weakly because I know how irritating it can be when you want to read on, but can't! **

**This is my tribute list and I hope you all enjoy reading my story (: **

**District 1. Luxuries.**

Male- Jaden Mordeen

Female- Naylye Joss

**District 2. Masonry.**

Male- Acron Fisica

Female- Saffron Clawford

**District 3. Electronics **

Male- Aaron Bering

Female- Aurora 'Rory' Prattle

**District 4. Fishing.**

Male- Harvey Norden

Female- Carmina Bluerose

**District 5. Power.**

Male- Orion Bailey

Female- Ave Cress

**District 6. Transportation.**

Male- Wren Merritt

Female- Glenys Cherokee

**District 7. Lumber**

Male- Damien Thomson

Female- Amber Henson

**District 8. Textiles.**

Male- Chale Chadwick

Female- Livia Phoenix

**District 9. Grain.**

Male- Brecon Tides

Female- Runa Pavlich

**District 10. Live Stock**.

Male- Lilee Brooks

Female- Josef Mono

**District 11. Agriculture.**

Male- Gavin Patch

Female- Kitty Plyte

**District 12. Mining.**

Male- Lucien Damson

Female- Maya Lupeni


	2. District 1 reapings

**A/N:**_**Hi guys, in my tribute list I got the District 10 male and female names the wrong way round. So the male tribute is Josef and the female tribute is Lilee; sorry for any confusion. Anyway, on with the reapings! :D**_

**District 1 Reapings. **

**Naylye Joss. **

Naylye kneeled down to the huge slab of marble and placed a bunch of white roses next to the picture of her mother. "I have to do it mother, but everything will be okay" Naylye spoke to her mother's gravestone. "I'm doing it for us mother. But everything will be fine, I promise" Naylye repeated as she fiddled with her red cotton dress.

"Naylye?" a voice behind her sounded. Naylye turned around to see her nineteen year old brother, Chen, staring at her worriedly.

"Oh, Chen. I didn't erm-" Naylye tripped over her words "I didn't see you there" she finished with a cough. Chen hesitated slightly but then sat down to join his sister in the graveyard.

"What are you doing here?" Chen asked.

"Nothing, just talking to mother, like I always do" Naylye replied quickly, as she un-tucked her hair from her ear so it fell in a waterfall across her face. Chen turned his head so he was directly looking at his sixteen year old sister, but her crimson waves hid any kind of emotion from him.

"Bullshit, Naylye. I heard you." Chen spat out.

Naylye froze. "_Crap_" she thought to herself.

"So is it true?" Chen brushed Naylye's red hair out of her face, so he could look her in the eye; but she avoided his gaze and looked down.

"Naylye, please!" Chen suddenly cried out. "Tell me the damn truth!"

"Fine! Yes it's true!" Naylye shrieked. "I'm going to volunteer today, okay? And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Naylye abruptly stood up and stalked off, tears streaming down her face.

"Naylye!" She heard Chen shout behind her; she ignores him and walked towards the City centre, the reapings will be starting soon.

"Naylye!" She heard Chen's voice much closer to her now, she considered running but then decided not to as Chen would easily catch her.

Suddenly he was in front of her, his cheeks red from sprinting. Chen planted his hands on Naylye's cheeks, forcing her to look at him.

"Why?" he breathed. "Why would you even consider volunteering?"

"Chen" Naylye whispered "We live in a house where we're not wanted. We live in house where we are ignored. We live in a house with_ them_" Naylye clenched her teeth, obviously referring to her abusive father and ignorant step mother.

"I have to win these games, so I can get a house in the Victor's village, for us. A house where there are no arguments, no humiliation and no fears. And-" Naylye started to sob "A house where no one keeps telling me that… that I was the one who killed our mother!" Naylye lost it then and bawled into Chen, who was cradling her against his chest, trying to hold back the tears himself.

"Naylye" Chen said softly "You didn't kill mother, she died of childbirth. That is in no way, your fault. Don't you dare listen to what that Psychopath of a father has to say, he only blames you because there is nothing else to blame. Everyone knows you didn't do it, it was a natural death. And I know life at home is hard, but we have each other. Just please…" Chen pulled Naylye away to look at her. "Don't volunteer."

"I'm so sorry Chen" Naylye choked out as she stroked her brothers' face. "But my mind is set. I'm doing this for us." Chen's eyes brimmed with tears as he tried again: "Naylye please, your all I have left. Besides, you have no training. Father ignored us so we were never sent to one of those fancy training schools"

"I'll be fine, Chen. I'm a fast learner. Anyway, I live in District one. No one will cross me" Naylye lied smoothly. She fake smiled as she pecked her brothers' cheek.

"Love you, Chinny" She whispered, using Chen's childhood nickname. And with that, she withdrew from her brothers' embrace and headed towards the city centre.

**Jaden Mordeen.**

"Jaden! Get up!" Jaden heard his mother call from what seemed like ten miles away.

Jaden groaned and turned over, with no intension of waking up. "_Jaden_!" she screeched again. Jaden glanced at his bedside clock; the time read _6:31am_. Six thirty? The reapings aren't until midday! He pulled the sheets tighter around himself and continued to ignore his mother's constant yapping. Suddenly the screaming stopped and Jaden smiled into the sheets, pleased that he could go back to sleep-

"Holy shit!" Jaden screamed as a bucket of icy water covered his face. Jaden fell out of bed and was greeted by the cold floor of the room. He instantly bolted up and saw his idiot of a brother laughing against the door.

"What the hell, Syrus?" Jaden shouted at the twenty two year old. Syrus just shrugged and said: "Mother told you to get up. Oh, and that's payback for your little 'prank' nearly getting me fired last week." And with that, Syrus paced out of the room.

Jaden fought the temptation to go after Syrus and take a swing at him; one or two punches would do the trick…

But he just sighed and padded off to the bathroom to have a shower. After that he got dressed in his best white shirt and black trousers and slips his black leather shoes on to match. He ran his fingers through his light brown hair and glanced at his oversized muscles with pride. Jaden smiled at himself, he sure was good looking.

"Hello, Jaden" Jaden's father, Nicholas Mordeen, the mayor of district one, poked his head through the door.

"Morning" Jaden beamed at his father who walked into the bedroom.

"Getting ready for the big day?" Nicholas smiled at his son, joining him by the mirror.

"Corse I am, but why so early?" Jaden yawned "The reapings don't start 'til twelve"

"Your mother thought it would be good to do some last minute training" Jaden's father explained.

"Oh erm, okay then" Jaden stumbled as he made his way to the door.

"Wait a minute" Jaden's father pulled him back and told his son to look into the mirror.

"What do you see?" The mayor asked.

Jaden looked at his reflection and answered: "Myself."

"And what are you, son?"

"A winner." Jaden said without hesitation.

"That's right" Jaden's father turned to face him. "You've always been a winner, and everyone knows you can win these games".

Jaden started to say "Obviously" but then he remembered who he was talking too. "Thank you, Father" Jaden corrected himself.

Nicholas patted Jaden on the back and said: "I'm proud of you son. Always have been, always will be. Now you better go and-"

"_JADEN!"_ Jaden's mother screamed up the stairs.

"Train" Nicholas finished causing himself and his son to laugh in harmony.

Cordelia Prieson strides on to the humongous stage with an ear straining grin painted on her face. She walked over to the microphone and attempts to quieten the district one citizens' who were practically jumping up and down with excitement. She is forced too bang on the microphone several times to calm the audience. As Cordelia babbles on about how bad the dark days were, some of the front row watchers were blind sighted of what she was wearing. Luminous green skirts and orange lipstick didn't really go down well in any other place than the Capitol.

The only person who wasn't jumping up and down with excitement was Naylye. She was in the group of seventeen year old females and was searching the crowd for Chen. After a small while she gave up. She'd probably never see him again anyway.

Jaden stood in the group of seventeen year old males, and he couldn't be more gleeful. This was his chance; this was his chance to show everybody what he could do.

"Now Ladies and Gentlemen the time has come to select one courage young man and woman; for the honour of representing district one in this years annual hunger games! And may the odds be _ever _in your favour!"

Cordelia pranced over to her right where a big glass bowl, full of paper slips stood. And then she said: "Ladies first." She dipped her hand deeply into the ball and pulled out a single piece of paper.

"And the lucky lady is-"

"I volunteer!" a high pitched voice called from within the crowd.

"Ooh!" Cordelia squealed "It seems that, yet again, we have a volunteer! Come up here dear! Don't be shy"

A girl with red hair and blue eyes made her way to the stage; she was wearing a red cotton dress and was smiling like crazy. However her smile seemed a little fake, like she was trying too hard to cover up her feelings…

"What's your name, dear?"

"Naylye Joss"

"And do you have anything to say?"

Naylye's eyes searched for Chen, and then she saw him. He looked like she felt, heartbroken and scared.

"No, just get me to the arena." Naylye spoke, trying to act cold hearted and strong. It seemed to work, the audience cheered loudly and called her name out with enthusiasm.

"Ooh, how determined!" Cordelia cooed as she turned to her left, where the boy's reaping ball was. "Now for the boys" she spoke clearly. Cordelia gracefully pulled out another slip of paper and opened it up.

"And your male tribute is-"

"I volunteer!" A voice shouted eagerly.

"Another volunteer!" Cordelia smiled with pride.

A tall boy with brown hair and huge muscles jogged up to the stage. He threw a smile into the audience which was followed by a large number of winks and whistles from the columns of females. Jaden awkwardly smiles back at them and waved, but he mentally rolls his eyes. He doesn't like too much female attention.

"What's your name?"

"Jaden Mordeen"

"Oh, you must be the mayor's son!"

Jaden glances at his father, who was clapping loudly along with many others.

"Yes. Yes I am" he returned proudly.

"Well, congratulations!" Cordelia beamed. "Right, you two, shake hands."

The two seventeen year olds turn towards each other and share a brief handshake then broke apart.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the tributes representing district one!" The crowd goes wild then, except for one nineteen year old boy, who feels certain that his sister has just volunteered for her own death.

**I hope you liked district one's reapings! What did you think of the tributes? Please let me know; R&R :) **


	3. District 2 reapings

**District 2 Reapings**

**Saffron Clawford **

"Ready?" the three boys grinned as they stared at the heap in the bed, assuming that somewhere in the bed, laid their sister. All three boys smiled evilly as they began the countdown for their ambush.

"Three" the nineteen year-old whispered, glancing at his younger brothers.

"Two" the seventeen year old twins breathed together as they all took a step closer towards the bed.

"ONE!" All three boys shouted at once and pounced on top of the collection of white sheets but only to find handfuls of silk cushions.

"Where is she?" the boys demanded together, searching under the bed and peering behind curtains.

"Fail much, dumbass?" the three boys heard a voice behind them laugh. They all spun around at the same time to see their sister, Saffron, casually leaning against her chest of draws. Saffron was already fully dressed in her reaping outfit which consists of black leggings with a black sequined top to match. Saffron wasn't your average girl; she despises dresses and would rather die then go shopping. But she's friendly, although not many people see this.

"Why are you over there?" one of her brothers complained loudly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Saffron answered, irritated. "I knew it wouldn't be long until you three tried to piss me off again" she rolled her eyes whilst her brothers smirked.

"Now please- get the hell out of my room" Saffron smiled sarcastically at her brothers before they shuffled out of her bedroom, obviously annoyed that their plan had failed.

"Idiots" Saffron muttered to herself before looking outside the window, just for something to do. She saw her neighbour, Enobaria, walking out of the victor's village and towards the city centre where the reapings would take place soon." I guess she's a mentor" Saffron thought out loud. Unlike most youth's of District two, Saffron saw no point competing in the games. Her father was already a victor so there was no reason for her too even considering volunteering. Even if she did volunteer, besides her family, she doubts anyone would really care. Saffron ran her fingers through her jet-black hair as she idly wondered why not many people liked her. Was it because she was different? A tom boy? Her lack of fashion? Her-

"Saff!" Her father's voice called from downstairs "It's time to go!"

Saffron sighed and walked out of her room, to join her father in the walk to the reapings.

**Acron Fisica **

Acron smiled as his spear hit the bullseye of the target board which was about fifteen foot away. He heard muffled clapping behind him but he ignored it too show his little audience that he gets praised all the time. Acron has been training for the games ever since he could move, which is about 16 years of preparation. When Acron was three, he caused a small crack in his father's skull by throwing a rock at him. Acron smiled darkly at the memory, not at the fact that he had hurt his father, but the fact that he could wound people at the age of three. He is much, much more capable of doing _a lot_ worse to people now.

"You'll make a fine victor" his trainer spoke, suddenly appearing, gazing at the spear wedged into the board.

"I know" Acron arrogantly mouthed.

"Now do another one" his trainer instructed.

Acron nodded once and stomped at the end of a spear, causing it to fly up in the air. Acron caught it neatly with one hand, showing off. It worked; the size of his audience had doubled and they all were gawping to see what this boy with the spear could do.

Acron lunged the spear forward, a slight groan escaping his lips whilst doing so. The spear soared through the air and slotted into the target board; Acron smirked.

"I taught you well" his trainer boasted. He patted Acron and said: "I'll see you when you win" and walked away.

Acron huffed and laugh and turned to go and grab a shower before the reapings started. Suddenly he collided with a girl who wasn't looking where she was going, which caused them both to drop to the training centre floor.

"Ooh, sorry!" the girl giggled loudly.

"Watch where you're going, idiot!" Acron boomed at the girl who stood up and pretended to brush dirt of her clothes.

"I think 'apology accepted' would have sufficed" the girl muttered whilst cocking an eyebrow.

Acron stared at this girl; no one younger than him had ever spoken back to him like that; especially a younger girl. She looked about fourteen and had long braided blonde hair and green eyes. Then Acron recognised her, he had never bothered to learn her name but he had seen her at the axe station for about a year now.

"Don't get rude, bitch." Acron looked at her through narrowed eyes whilst flexing his massive muscles.

"Look, sweetie" the girl cooed as she placed her hands on her hips. "You're not in the arena yet, so there is really no point in acting all tough here." the girl added, eyeing Acron's muscles. She then childishly stuck her tongue out and flounced away.

Acron desperately thought of some amazing comeback to shout after her but his mind went blank. Instead he cussed as loudly as he could until he realised that he was embarrassing himself. He swore under his breath and hurried of to take his shower.

"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!" a man with bright purple hair and an orange frilly suit called out as he walked centre stage. "My name is Indigo Ahmad, and I shall be your escort for the 67th Annual Hunger Games! And may the odds be _ever _in your favour!" The Capitol man shrieked out to district two, who cheered loudly in response.

"Ladies first" Indigo smiled and he waltzed over to the reapings bowl full of paper names. He dipped his hand into the bowl and opened the slip and read:

"Saffron Clawford! Where are you dear?"

Everyone turned around looking at wide-eyed Saffron. '_It's okay Saff' _Saffron told herself '_someone will volunteer in a minute' _A couple of seconds passed and Saffron absorbed the fact that no-one would be volunteering for her this year. Well that was unexpected. She made her way out of the sixteen year old female column in a daze. What should she feel? Worried? Saffron hardly ever trained- what if she finds it difficult? She cussed under her breath for not training whilst she still had the chance. However, this is the Hunger Games after all; being a victor is in her blood. When she made her way up the steps, she decided that a non- expressed facial appearance would be best. She had too many random feelings and needed to cover them up. Anyway, the Capitol might like a 'mystery girl from two'.

Indigo smiled at the girl wearing black leggings and a dark sequined top. Her hair was also black and her skin was only average. And why isn't she smiling? Indigo fought the temptation to mutter 'Goth' under his breath.

"Do you have anything to say?" Indigo asked as he took Saffron's hand.

"Erm, not really" she babbled.

Indigo scowled slightly and made his way to the boy's reaping bowl. "Now for the boys"

He pulled out a single slip of paper and called: "The lucky lad is-"

"I volunteer!" a voice shouted from within the column of eighteen year old males.

"Ooh! It seems like we have a volunteer!" Indigo exclaimed.

A boy with huge muscles and light brown hair made his way to the stage, smirking proudly. On his way, he saw a twelve year old slightly out of line in front of him; he gave him a hard shove. Hard enough that the small boy fell over. The volunteer's smile widened; now the audience knew that he is serious about the Games. On the stage Indigo greets him with a smile and says: "Hello there! What's your name?"

"Acron Fisica" the boy announces happily.

"And do you have anything to say?"

Acron glanced at the twelve year old boy, who was being pulled up by his friend, and chuckled and looked into the lens of the camera. "I think I've said everything I need too"

"Well then I congratulate you both! But you need to shake hands now"

Saffron and Acron looked at each other. One with a blank expression, one with a natural glare; they shook hands firmly and then turned back to the audience.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the tributes representing district two!" Indigo calls. The crowd screeches so loud that the sound made seems to be beyond human capability.

**Please R&R (: **


	4. District 3 reapings

**A/N: Thank you all for your lovely reviews, they make me smile :D Anyway, one with the reapings!**

**District 3 Reapings**

**Aurora Prattle **

Aurora gazed at the sun as it generously spreads its light and warmth all over her district. Each ray of heat tempts the small birds perching on the trees, to elegantly swoop in and out of the glorious heat, free to enter or exit whenever they please. Each sunbeam shines through the smallest leaves on the large oak tree which is next to the factory that she is sitting on top of. Besides the occasional rumble of the electronics being manufactured in the factory below; it's so peaceful up on top of the workshop. Calm. Free. The exact opposite of her home. Aurora closes her emerald green eyes, as she recaps the happening that occurred last year…

"_Where have you been you little bitch?" Aurora's Father stumbled to the front door when Aurora opened it at ten o'clock in the evening._

"_I was just watching the sunset, Father" Aurora said innocently as she eyed the vodka bottle her Father was clutching. _

"_Whatever" he mumbled. _

_Aurora sighed and walked into the kitchen for a snack, she opened the fridge but it was completely empty besides from a few empty beer cans. _

"_Oi. You" Aurora's mother suddenly snapped from the dinning table, she too, was steaming drunk. _

_Aurora blinked to prevent the tears from filling her eyes. She loathed seeing her mother in such a state. She wasn't always like this; she used to be a good woman. But then her father, Aurora's grandfather, died. She was alone and the alcohol just happened to be there. _

"_Yes, mother?" Aurora gulped as she played with a stand of her brown hair._

"_Don't bother looking for food 'cos we ain't got any" She sneered at her daughter as her husband fell into the table. _

"_You can starve for all I care" she mumbled whilst taking another swig of her vodka bottle and cussing when it was empty. _

_Aurora could hold the tears back no longer. The indication that her Mother wouldn't care if her own daughter died made the liquid dribble down her face with no sign of stopping…_

Aurora's eyes snap open; she didn't even notice the hot tears running down her cheeks. Her parents _did_ care about her, didn't they? They _would_ care if she starved… right? She hurriedly checked her watch, just for something to do. Crap, five minutes until the reapings start. She half jumped down the oak tree, and rushed off to the city centre, wiping the remains of her tears away as she did so.

**Aaron Bering.**

"Aaron, I'm just going to pop round to Elspeth's before the reaping" Lisa spoke to her twin brother, Aaron. He didn't bother to reply, as usual.

"Aaron?" Lisa paced over to her brother, her brown curls bouncing at each step she took. Lisa was very different compared to her brother. She was happy, beautiful and friendly. Aaron on the other hand was depressed, uncooperative and short tempered. Most people didn't believe that the two were twins at first- they are so different.

"Aaron, look at me" Lisa raised her voice. Aaron merely cocked his head to the side, bored and uninterested in what his twin was saying.

"Did you here what I said?" Lisa asked

"Mhmm"

"Okay then, well then I guess I'll see you after the reaping"

Lisa moved forward and kissed her brother's forehead, then disappeared from the room. Aaron scowled, he loved his sister but he was no good at showing it. He's not good at portraying any emotion, besides angry, since the day he murdered that woman. The accidental murder; Man-slaughter…

Aaron suddenly bolted from the room, jumped over his garden fence, and began sprinting into a random direction that his feet picked for him. He didn't quite understand why he began running; perhaps it was symbolic of how he wishes he could escape the murderous guilt that attacks his thoughts everyday. But you can never run away from yourself. After two minutes of constant speeding Aaron realised that the inhuman thoughts he contained would linger with him forever.

He kicked a rock along with him, as he began to make his way to the city centre, panting from the run. He didn't mean to kill her- honest. It was an accident. A nine- month- year- old- accident. A major one. She should have just let him take that loaf of bread from her kitchen, and then he wouldn't have had to make her stop shouting for the peacekeepers… No one had every found out about it, he covered it up pretty well…

Aaron squeezed his pale green eyes shut, not wanting to think about it. He just wanted to get through the reapings and then he could freak out more later; like he did everyday.

Behind him he heard two girls squealing as one of them said:

"Ooh, he's hot isn't he?"

"Totally. I'd make out with him any day of the week"

Both of the girls giggled as they both cat-walked past Aaron, one of them swinging her butt as too grab Aaron's attention. Aaron just rolled his eyes and then joined another crowd of people walking towards the city centre.

A woman with lilac skin and pink hair walked onto the stage and announced herself to be Delphine Hollows, the district three escort. She grinned crazily into the reaping crowd but they all remained stony faced and looked somewhat unhappy. Delphine sighed; of corse _she_ had to be stuck with a weak district. But she beamed into the audience all the same.

"Now may the odds be _ever_ in your favour" Delphine cooed as she strode over to a large glass bowl. "Ladies first" Delphine dived her hand into the glass bowl and she plucked out a single name.

"And this year's female tribute is-!" Delphine began to unfold the name as the females of district three held their breath.

"Aurora Prattle!"

Sighs of relieve escaped the lips of everyone besides the fifteen year old girl who made her way to the stage. She had long dark hair with green eyes and was wearing a large grey shirt and an uneven brown skirt. Delphine smiled at the young lady as she asked: "Do you have anything to say dear?" Aurora's mouth was dry and croaky; she couldn't manage to form the simplest of words.

"Hmm" Delphine said awkwardly "I guess not"

Delphine flicked her long pink hair back, and paced over to the bowl full of boy's names.

"And the lucky young man representing district three is… Aaron Bering!"

An eighteen year old boy with a hard face and stormy eyes violently pushes his way to the stage. He was wearing baggy trousers and an olive shirt. Aaron stomped up the stairs to the stage and the escort tried to smile and him, but secretly she was half terrified.

"Do you have anything to say?" Delphine choked out.

Aaron was too furious to saying anything remotely humane. His nineteenth birthday is in two weeks, and then he wouldn't be eligible to compete. Why are the odds never in his favour?

"I… I take that as a no" Delphine murmured as she sighed at her two tributes. Oh well, at least they were both good-looking. Delphine stood in between the mortified girl and the furious boy. "Ladies and gentlemen I give you the district three tributes for this years' annual Hunger Games!" She held both of their arms up as if they were already victors and smiled crazily. A few uneasy claps gave from the audience but after a few glares from the peacekeepers, the crowds started clapping with a steady rhythm.

"Now, shake hands you too" Delphine spoke, getting slightly bored. Aurora stared down at her hand as if only realising its presence and timidly held it out to Aaron. Aaron grasped her hand, squeezing and twisting it beyond recognition. Aurora let out a slight whimper instead of the screams she wanted to realise. But the cameras were still rolling, if the Capitol audience thought she wasn't capable of a handshake, they would just rule her off as another cornucopia victim. Aaron heard the whimper of the young girl and forgot what he was doing. He quickly let go of her hand, which was red and throbbing, and stared into the distance; certain that neither he, nor his district partner would survive to see their district again.

**So what do you think? Please R&R!**


	5. District 4 reapings

**A/N: Hi guys, sorry for the wait, I was really busy. Thank you all for your support and reviews, they make me feel so happy. You guys are so awesome :) Anyway, here's district four! **

**District 4 Reapings**

**Carmina Bluerose**

Carmina's alarm buzzed loudly.

"Go away" she moaned whilst swatting her clock like a fly. The sun shone in through Carmina's bedroom window, directly on to her. Today was going to be a beautiful day; too bad the occasion wasn't as good. It's reaping day.

Carmina idly thought about the Hunger Games as she got dressed. They were alright she supposed. But she wasn't even considering them until she was at least seventeen.

"Breakfast!" she heard her mother call from downstairs.

Carmina reached the end of the staircase where she saw her sister, Luna.

"Oh don't you look lovely, Carmina!" Luna smiled at her little sister, who beamed in return.

"Do you think it will do?" Carmina asked, fiddling with her long, navy blue dress.

"Of corse it will sweetie" Luna cooed back.

Carmina grinned again at her eldest sister and went to the mirror to do something with her hair. After failed attempts of braiding Carmina sighed and just scraped her blonde locks up into a messy bun. It didn't matter anyway; it's not like that many people would see it anyway. Just then, her big brother, Niel came bounding down the stairs complaining to his sisters that he couldn't do up his tie. Luna raised her eyebrows and Carmina laughed softly and told her brother to come over. She quickly and neatly tied the tie and grinned.

"There you go, idiot"

"Thanks, nerd" Niel laughed back. Carmina winced at her brothers remark, it made her remember what the kids at school used to say. Just because she enjoyed reading and got good marks in school didn't make her a nerd, right? But like all her negative emotions, she pushes it to the pit of her brain, and tries to forget about them.

On the way to the reapings, Carmina bumped into her best friend, Leana. Leana looked gorgeous in a tight blue dress, showing off a lot of thigh. Leana could always pull of things like that whereas Carmina loathes tight clothing. The thought of old men staring at her legs made her shudder.

The two start talking eagerly as they signed in and took their places in the fourteen year old female column, smiling and greeting those around them.

"So who do you think will mentor this year?" Carmina smiled at her best friend.

"I hope Finnick Odair does. Oh God, he's so sexy. Mhmm" Leana fake drooled causing her and her best friend to laugh out gleefully. A man with bronze hair and sea-green eyes suddenly appears on the stage, being announced as the mentor. His appearance suddenly causes a lot of wolf whistles from the female sections. Carmina and Leana were over- whelmed with laughter when they saw it _was_ infact Finnick Odair mentoring this year.

"Would you ever volunteer?" Leana suddenly asked Carmina, her hazel eyes full of curiosity.

"Sure I would" Carmina replied with a shrug "when I'm eighteen and got a bit more training, then sure. Why not? Then I could spent the whole trip with Mr. SexGod over there"

"To bad I never want to be a tribute" Leana sighed into Carmina's shoulder.

"You never know" Carmina spoke "today the odds may be against your favour"

**Harvey Norden**

"Wow, look at that one!" Harvey shouted, pointing at a large boat sailing into the harbour.

"I thought you weren't into boats anymore?" Harvey's sister, Cara, asked him as they walked to the reapings.

"I'm not. I just think they're cool, that's all" Harvey blushed and his sister giggled.

"Just admit it; behind all this muscle you've gained from training, there is still a nine year old boy, obsessed with boats, inside you!" Cara chuckled, flicking her dark curls around her shoulder.

"Shut _up_, Cara" Harvey moaned. "I'm not a kid. I'm fifteen years old!"

"I just miss my kid brother" Cara shrugged "You're all grown up now"

"Yes. Yes I am" Harvey exclaimed dramatically and suddenly swept his light-brown hair back and forth and put his hand on his hip. Cara burst out laughing and said:

"Yep. You still got it kiddo. The joker of the family"

"Talking about growing up" Cara continued, cocking and eyebrow

"Three girls called round for you yesterday. And when I told them that you were out training they all looked disappointed and I swear I saw one of them crying" Cara said uneasily.

"Oh, um. Okay. Nice too know" Harvey babbled awkwardly.

"So you're quite popular with the ladies are you?" Cara coughed humorously.

"Oh god, I'm not having this conversation with you" Harvey said, walking away from his sister.

"I'm kidding, Harvey!" Cara called as she dragged her brother back to her side.

"Is Jasmine mentoring this year?" Harvey asked, referring to his oldest sister, as Cara and himself queued to sign in

"No, she mentored last year, remember?"

"Oh Yeh, her tributes didn't exactly get a pleasant death either" Harvey spoke, remembering the footage of a young girl getting her limbs amputated by three other tributes.

"Ooh, I remember that one. Ew" Cara shrugged.

"Nasty way to go" Harvey mumbled.

"Well anyway, I think Finnick is mentoring this year" Cara's eyes shone. "Ooh, he is my favourite victor in our neighbourhood" she gazed across the horizon of the beach, daydreaming. "But he's seeing that _Annie_ girl. God, what does he see in her? Yeh, she's a victor and she's kind of pretty but I could-"

Harvey turned his sister around and suddenly slapped her round the face. She was startled as her eyes settled on her brother, whose eyebrows were risen so far up that they disappeared under his hair. But then Cara mumbled and said: "Yeh- I needed that. Thanks"

"Hello, District four!" Willa Krewson screeched into the heart of district four. "Let me here you make some noise!" The audience cheered loudly and chattered excitedly whilst some exchanged weird glances, obviously humoured at Willa's blue bawl-bawl hat and her glittered stockings. Wow, how can people in the Capitol find that fashionable? Willa droned on for what seemed like an eternity about the dark days and the rebellion until she finally called:

"Now the time has come to select one young man and woman for the complete _honour _of representing district four!" The loud series of ear-piercing shouts and Willa had to tap on her microphone several times before they quietened.

"May the odds be _ever_ in your favour. Ladies first?" Delphine sauntered over to the female bowl and picked out a single name.

"And the lucky lady is- Leana Jenkins!"

A girl in a tight blue dress froze; her hazel eyes were full of worry. A few seconds pass, but then the girl to her left screams:

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"

"Ooh! It seems that we have a volunteer!" Willa squeaked.

The female volunteer was wearing a blue dress with a navy bow resting on her stomach. But this dress was long and flowing, not tight like Leana's. She had her blonde hair scrapped up in a bun, but she quickly pulls her hair loose, as if wanting to look good. She makes her way up to the stage, but with a smile on her face now.

"What's your name dear?" Willa asks her

"Carmina Bluerose" Carmina replied with a grin.

"And do you have anything to say?"

"Don't underestimate me" Carmina answered, suddenly serious, staring into the camera.

"May I press a little further and ask why you volunteered for that young lady?"

"Well she's my best friend… "Carmina started, eyeing a wide-eyed Leana. "But I have more training than her, so I think I have a _much_ better chance in winning" Carmina continued, staying strong. It was true. Carmina had some training; she was nearly perfect with her dagger, and fourteen years old? Eighteen years old? Not that much of a difference, right? She could still win…

"I have no doubt in that" Willa smiled. "Now for the boys" The escort dipped her hand into the boys bowl and beams as she unfolds the slip:

"Harvey Norden!"

A boy from the fifteen year old column, made his way up to the stage, his excitement clearly painted on his face. He was wearing brown trousers and a light grey shirt. He had soft brown hair and stunning blue eyes.

Harvey made his way up to the stage in a happy daze. Sure, it would have been nice to be going into the games in a year or two but at least he was in, and on the stage. Now no-one could volunteer for him. Perfect.

"Do you have anything to say, dear?"

Harvey barely heard her and continued to smile to the audience, who had gone silent, waiting for his reply.

"_Oh crap, they're all waiting for me to say something" _Harvey though to himself, suddenly realising the situation.

"Um, go District four?" Harvey guessed, hoping that it would be enough. Thankfully the audience found this funny and began to laugh.

"Go district four, indeed young man" Willa interrupted the giggling audience.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the tributes representing district four!" Both tributes smiled eagerly, although they both avoided the eyes of their loved ones.

Behind the escort and tributes, their seemed to be some kind of argument going on between Finnick Odair and a woman who looked about twenty. Everyone knew who this woman was, her name is Jasmine Norden and she won the Hunger Games three years ago. The whole district fell silent as they heard the two victors bickering:

"Finnick, please let me mentor god damn you! That's my kid brother!" Jasmine hissed.

"No way Jas. Sorry, but these two are keepers. I want them" Finnick replied firmly.

"Look her Odair I-" Jasmine started but then Finnick and her realised that everyone was listening to them.

"Right you two shake hands" Willa said quickly, breaking the silence.

Carmina put her hand forward, with a smile. Harvey retuned the smile, and took her hand. Something happened when their hands touched. A spark. A ray of hope for both of them. Something else? Harvey quickly withdrew his hand, embarrassed and annoyed with himself. "_This is the Hunger Games" _Harvey mentally shouted at him self _"You here to win. No distractions" _

"Now come along you too, we have a train to catch" Willa beamed happily.

Harvey went with Willa, followed by Finnick. But it took Carmina a few seconds to adjust after the handshake. Her hand was still warm after Harvey's gentle touch... But then she quickly shook the thought from her head; and followed her escort, tribute partner and mentor down the stairs of the stage, and out of sight.

**What did you think? Please, R&R :D**


	6. District 5 reapings

**District 5 reapings **

**Ave Cress**

"Get up"

"No"

Ave's Grandmother sighed heavily as she glared down at the bundle in the bed.

"Get up _now_" she hissed at her grand-daughter

"Poo" the bundle replied blankly.

"Ave Cress!" her Grandmother, Veronica, cried "A young _lady _shouldknow no such word!"

"Shame I ain't no young lady 'den" the bundle spoke in a cockney-like accent, knowing it would irritate her grandmother.

"UP NOW" Her Grandmother screamed with fury.

"God" Ave appeared from under her blankets "No need to shout"

"Get. Dressed. Now" Ave's grandmother threw some clothes at her, and stalked out of the room.

Ave looked at the reaping outfit that her grandmother had selected. Wait, what? Ave stared in horror at the brown overall dress that had been shoved into her hands. A dress? Come_ on. _Ave's eyes drifted to her closest, where her blue jeans and green sweater were in their for sure. "Hmm" Ave thought out loud "Tempting…"

Ave stared at her reflection in disgust. She had her normal thin blonde hair that stops at her shoulders and a very flat chest. Her diamond blue eyes are the only give away that she is a girl. Most people mistook her as a boy, which pleased Ave as she was a major tomboy anyway, much to her Grandmother's irritation. But her facial features were not what she was glaring at. It was the dress. God, it makes her looks…Feminine.

Ave shuddered.

"Your breakfast is getting cold, Ave!" her Grandmother yelled from downstairs

"A lady is always punctual!"

"Lady my ass" the twelve year old muttered under her breath as she made a break for the stairs.

"That's better, don't you look smart?" Veronica cooed at Ave as she grumpily took her place at the table.

"What are you staring at?" Ave mumbled to her older brothers laughing into each other's shoulders. When their Grandmother's back was turned the two older boys made a gesture to their sister's clothing. Ave stared at them through narrowed eyes.

"Shut up" Ave muttered quietly, so her grandmother wouldn't hear her.

After gulping down a small breakfast of muesli, Veronica grabbed something from the shelf and slowly made her way towards her granddaughter; holding it behind her back.

"What's that?" Ave asked, catching on.

"Now, Ave" Veronica began "I don't want any silly arguments about this. It will make you look pretty" she said slowly, as if she was talking to an injured animal. She then revealed the small hair brush from behind her back.

"No!" Ave cried, jumping from the table. "No no no! It hurts! You'll rip my scalp off!" Ave sprinted upstairs, clutching her head.

Veronica sighed. "Damn"

**Orion Bailey.**

Beep. Beep. Beep. That's all Orion could hear; besides his mother's heavy breathing. "Hello mother, It's me" Orion squatted besides his mother's hospital bed, the beeping of the machine ringing in his ears.

"Orion, you should be at the reaping" His mother gurgled at him, not moving anything besides her lips.

"No, no it's okay. I got time" Orion choked out, running his fingers thought his hair.

"You need a haircut" His mother weakly reached her hand out to her son's tangled brown locks.

"Okay" Orion said quickly, not wanting his mother to know that he actually couldn't afford a haircut. He quickly changed the topic:

How are you feeling?"

"I have cancer Orion, how the fuck do you think I feel?" she suddenly snapped.

Orion flinched, his mother had never shouted at him before. Tear buds began to blossom in his eyes, he looked away.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me" she suddenly said softly.

"I do." Orion muttered "You're tired; I'll let you sleep now"

Orion brushed his lips against his mother's forehead as she whispered:

"You'll be fine. They won't pick you, son"

"I'll visit you tomorrow" Orion said, pausing at the hospital door

"I'll be here…"

"_Stupid Caner. Stupid Cancer. Stupid Cancer." _Orion thought to himself as he slumped too the reapings. Orion thought his life was a disaster. His father was a drunk, his mother was dying. She has had the godforsaken illness since Orion was ten. That's eight years now. Why is life so unfair? Little did Orion know, he had much worse to come.

"Greetings, District Five!" spoke a young woman with purple tattoos' on her cheeks. "I am Isadora Quince, and I have the amazing honour of turning two young tributes from this district, into superstars!" her voice echoed into a motionless crowd. "Like me" she added promptly.

"The time has come to select one young man and woman for this year's annual Hunger Games!" she sang gleefully. "Aren't you excited?" The crowd remained silent. "Well let's just get on with it then" she grumbled. Isadora paced too her left with a smirk and said:

"Let's start with the boys this year, eh? And may the odds be _ever_ in your favour" she approached the bowl and swooped her hand in and out with a single movement.

"And our courageous young man is Orion Bailey!"

An eighteen year old boy made his way up to the stage, looking completely shocked. He was wearing creased black trousers and a white shirt. His looks were below average, boring brown eyes and hair and he seemed weak and lanky. Nothing special, probably just another victim of the Cornucopia.

"Do you have anything to say, dear?" Isadora said

"I love you mom" The boy whispered under his breath, his eyes squeezed shut. Then, Orion felt the tiniest pang of relief, and he knew why. His mother is dying, and now he is going to die. At least they could be together in heaven, if such a place existed.

"Now, it's the ladies turn!" The escort squeaked. She waltzed over to the bowl and plucked a single paper.

"And the lucky lady is Ave Cress!"

A lot of eyes narrowed and hisses escaped lips in the audience after the name was declared. This always happens when a twelve year old is picked. A wide eyed girl in a brown dress wobbled her way to the stage. She was trembling and all the colour had been drained from her face. The poor child looked stricken; she stared at her feet on the stage- refusing to meet any eyes in the crowd.

"Do you have anything to say, Ave?"

Ave put on a brave face "Don't judge me on my age" she blubbered out; it was the best she could come up with, she hoped it would be enough to get her remembered.

"Ladies and Gentleman I give you your tributes!" Isadora shirked.

Silence.

"Shake hands you too" Isadora sighed, obviously tiresome of the lack of enthusiasm.

The eighteen year old and twelve year old stared at each other faintly, both assuming that they now had a limited time to live.

**So, there's District 5! How was it? Please R&R! (: **


	7. District 6 reapings

**A/N: Hi guys, thanks again for the lovely reviews, they make me feel so happy :') Anyway, here's Glenys and Wren! **

**District 6 Reapings.**

**Glenys Cherokee. **

"_No. _Please, no, no, no!" Glenys cried, her grey eyes staring in shock at a large oil stain on her dress. She tried sponging it out, but it only caused the stain to spread, covering the majority of her reaping outfit. Glenys sighed, glaring at the grey mark that clings to the lace on her white dress.

"I told you, I did tell you" Glen's boss appeared besides her.

Glenys's eyes fell upon her boss, Seth. Seth was the owner of the garage where Glenys worked. He was a rather large man, with a bald head and a strange odour that always seems to linger around him. But he's friendly and pays well, that's all that really mattered to Glenys.

"What? Told me what?" Glenys spoke, still mourning over her ruined dress.

"The dress" Seth replied gesturing to her "I told you that you would get it dirty working on that car"

"Well, I want to look good for the reapings, okay?" she tossed back.

"Hmm, fair enough. Coffee?" Seth offered as he paced into the office where the coffee was kept.

"Please" Glenys replied

"Black with two sugars?" a new voice sounded behind Glenys. Loco strolled into the garage, threw his jacket on the desk, and disappeared straight into the office.

"Erm, Yeh. Thanks" Glenys mumbled, with a smile itching at her lips.

Loco was another employee at Seth's mechanic and, not that anyone knew this; Glenys has had a crush on him for years. Not a silly little schoolgirl crush, yet she was not desperately in love with him. Glenys couldn't really work out how much she liked him, but she knew it was a lot. How could she resist him? He was perfect. He had dark brown floppy hair that fell across his huge golden eyes that can be gentle one moment and firm the next. He had rippling muscles that practically bulged out of his black sweaters. Loco and Seth plodded out of the office then, Loco holding Glenys warm drink towards her.

"There you go Glen that should calm you down, your not talking much today"

"She never talks much Loco" Seth chuckles "the girl keeps to herself"

"Calm me down?" Glenys looked confused as she took her first sip of coffee. Seth and Loco exchanged a glance as Seth said:

"The reapings?"

"Oh, oh yeh" Glenys blinked rapidly, feeling like an idiot "Oh, I'll be okay"

"Corse you will" Loco smiled. Being nineteen, he was ineligible to compete in the Hunger Games- much to his delight.

Seth glanced at his watch and rose his bushy eyebrows at the time "Speaking of the Reapings Glen, you better get a move on, it's ten too"

"Okay, see you later" Glenys said and walked out of the garage. She faintly heard a voice call "good luck" behind her, and secretly, she thought she needed it.

**Wren Merritt **

"Holy shit! Wren, run!" a loud voice called to Wren, who was one his feet at once, a smile already spread across his face. Wren and his friends bolted from the train that they had just jumped, raced across the tracks, and zoomed across a junkyard that was near the train station. Six peacekeepers were now sprinting after the four boys who were cheering loudly with excitement. The four boys ran down a small ally way, and came face to face with a large chained fence which they all climbed and jumped over easily. They continued to speed off round the corner, knowing that the peacekeepers jumping abilities were no where as good as theirs.

But soon the sprinting turned into jogging, then the jogging descended into walking. Before long the four boys were flushed and panting like animals.

"Did you see their faces?" Wren grinned at his friends between gasps.

"Corse we did how could we not?" One of Wren's friends, Hayden, replied with a smirk "The stupid little-" he happily continued to call the peacekeepers every name he could think of.

"Maybe we shouldn't jump trains anymore" a tanned boy said "You guys _do_ remember what happened last time, right?" he murmured, referring to when they all were publicly whipped for trespassing.

The four boys began to pace down the alleyway which led to the square. The square was already filled of stony faced people queuing to sign into the awful reapings. Unfortunately Wren and Hayden were still eligible for the dreaded Hunger Games, although Wren turns nineteen tomorrow. The other two boys were already nineteen so they quickly wished their friends good luck and shuffled away, probably to annoy some more peacekeepers.

Wren and Hayden both sighed and they joined the crowds queuing to get their finger pricked. They both glanced at the reaping stage where the District six escort, Calloway Oaks, was fussing over how the microphone was too tall for him. The appearance from the short, stubby Capitol man caused wide grins to spread across Hayden and Wren's faces.

"Wouldn't it be funny if they picked you out?" Hayden giggled at his best friend as he put his forefinger forward.

"Not funny" Wren muttered as his finger was jabbed at the same time as Hayden's "It would be a fucking piss take. Tomorrow is the day I escape from all this madness" Wren said, his eyes no longer dancing in humour "Tomorrow isn't just another birthday. It's a day where I am released. The day I can plan my futures without worrying what could snatch them away. Tomorrow I get my life back"

"Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Welcome!" Calloway Oaks boomed into the microphone. The citizens of District six didn't move, everyone was as still as statues. "I am Calloway Oaks, your escort for the 67th Hunger Games!" he smiled gleefully. Some of the front row weren't even listening; they were all gawping at Calloway's golden eyebrows… weird. "And may the odds be _ever_ in your favour" he beamed again. "Ladies first, everyone!" Calloway giggled. He reached his short hand into the reapings bowl and plucked one name out.

"And this year's first lucky tribute is… Glenys Cherokee!"

A girl from the seventeen year old column made her way too the stage after taking a few deep breaths. She had short black hair and ordinary grey eyes. She was wearing a white lacy dress with some kind of stain at the bottom of the lace. She seemed calm, but you can see the fear in her eyes.

"Do you have anything to say my dear?" Calloway looked up to her. Glenys just shook her head quickly.

"Now for the boys" Calloway spoke as he paraded over to the boy's bowl. All the males closed their eyes as Calloway pulled out a name and skipped back to centre stage.

"Wren Merritt! Where are you, son?" An eighteen year old boy, wearing a light blue blouse, stalks up too the stage. He had brown eyes and wavy brown hair; he stood a tall six foot so Calloway practically had to tilt his head back just to look at him.

"Have you got anything to say?" Calloway mumbled awkwardly.

Wren began to shake with anger; his blood was boiling, his heart thudding hard against his rib cage. _So close to being safe!_ Instead of shouting insults into the camera, he just spat out:

"No"

Wren knew the games had already begun, shouting insults at the audience, and possible sponsors weren't going to help him at all. He knew that. He carefully eyed the audience, making contact with as many as possible, making sure they remembered him. He didn't want to be forgotten. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon two smirking peacekeepers; maybe they were part of the pack that tried to catch him ten minutes ago, when he had jumped that train. Yes, ten minutes ago he was riding a train with his buddies, having a laugh. But ten minutes ago seems like years ago. A life-time ago.

"Okay then…" Calloway spoke, obviously irritated that his tributes seemed boring. "Ladies and Gentlemen I give you your tributes for this year's annual Hunger Games!" The crowd clapped quietly as the escort carried on:

"Now shake hands, you two"

Glenys and Wren turned to face each other. Normally, Wren would have given a wide smile, but at the moment he was still far too furious. Glenys attempted a small smile as she took her district partners hand, shook it slightly, and then let it fall.

**So, what did you think? Please R&R! **


	8. District 7 reapings

**A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone! But guess what? SUMMER IS HERE! So that means I will be updating more often :D **

**District 7 Reapings.**

**Amber Henson **

"Thank you, child" a shrivelled old woman thanked Amber, as she handed the tramp a piece of bread. Amber just smiled and speed walked to catch up with her father and her little sister; thankfully they didn't seem to notice her brief absence.

"Are you nervous, Amber?" her father, Thomas, asked her.

"No, no. I'm okay. My name is only in there twice after all" Amber flushed

"Its okway Amba youwl be fwine" Amber's two year old sister, Poppy, gurgled as she toddled along her father's side.

"Thanks Pop" Amber smiled for her sister's sake. Poppy was only two years old, and she had bouncing blonde curls with wide golden eyes. She was too young to understand the full meaning of the reapings and the Hunger Games, so Thomas and his eldest daughter never really spoke about them in front of her. When Amber and her father were ever watching the Games, they turned their old television set off whenever Poppy dawdled into the room. They wanted to keep her innocence for as long as possible.

Amber idly began to fiddle with one of the white ribbons in her blonde hair as she joined a large crowd of people walking towards the square. Amber began to idly daydream… _'The Hunger Games. The so-called sport resulting in the death of twenty three children. The so-called sport that Capitol people wait all year round for. The so-called sport that terrifies the majority of Panems' District's. The Games I loathe. The Hunger Games. You might as well just gather twenty three children and execute them one by one. It would be a lot faster…" _Amber suddenly snapped back to reality and was greeted by the warm embrace of her Father, with Poppy tugging at her leg. She does that a lot, daydream, it annoys her when she can't concentrate but at the moment she was so god damn scared she couldn't really focus on anything.

"You sure you're okay?" Her father cooed

Amber nodded, somehow. She was completely terrified but you just don't admit that at the reapings. Camera's are everywhere already, you really don't want to be caught crying. When they reached the sign-in queue her father turned to her and spoke:

"We'll find you after, sweetheart" Thomas faked a smile and Poppy blew her big sister a kiss. Then they diapered into the crowd of watching families.

**Damien Tifton **

"Father?" Damien asked, walking into the kitchen.

"What?" His father groaned, annoyed by his son's presence.

"I have to go now" Damien mumbled to his father, who was eating food at the table.

"Yeh, so?"

"Well it is the reapings after all, don't you want to come?"

"Nah, I think were okay" his father said as he cracked a grin.

Damien felt a pang off sadness poke his heart; surely he didn't mean that…

"You- are you sure?" Damien whispered through heart-broken eyes.

"Yup, have fun" his mother replied, suddenly appearing. The two adults exchanged a glance then both burst out laughing

"It's the reapings mother; I don't think anyone will have fun" Damien replied miserably.

"Don't talk back to your mother like that, boy" his father snapped "why are you so moody? Why can you never take a joke?"

"Because it's the Hunger Games, Father!" Damien suddenly shrieked "People are going to die and that is no joke!" As soon as he finished the last word he knew it was a mistake, especially when his father's fist collided with Damien's jaw, causing him to fall to the floor.

"Bastard" he spat at his son.

Damien fought the temptation to cry, he hated that about himself, he could bawl like a baby, so god damn easily. He stared at his reflection on the cold shiny floor. Ginger hair, grey eyes, spotty face. Ugly, nothing special. He stayed on the cold floor of the room until he knew he definitely had to go, parents or no parents, he had to get the reapings. The punishment for not attending a reaping was death. _Oh let them come_ Damien thought to himself _It's only a matter of time before I die anyway _he thought again, glancing at his father. A tear rolled down his face then, before sighing and standing up. Damien had always been a bit of a wimp, he didn't know how he would face the peacekeepers. He walked out of the house and closed the door, his parents didn't even notice.

Clementine Jarvis skipped onto the stage of District seven wearing spiky yellow stilettos. She had to duck under the wires that hung from the stage due to her large netted hat that was almost humours to the audience.

"I am your escort for this year's Hunger Games!" she giggled into the microphone "May the odds be _ever_ in your favour!"

District seven merely grunted in response but Clementine ignored that as she spun over to the female bowl.

"Let's start with the ladies" her hand dived into the bowl "… Amber Henson!"

A thirteen year old blonde girl with ribbons in her hair, wearing a long blue dress, made her way to the stage. She was trembling beyond recognition; it looked like she was vibrating. Her eyes were filled with tears, but somehow they never spilled over her eyes. When she reached the stage Clementine said:

"Hello my dear! Do you have anything to say?"

Amber felt dizzy, this was a dream right? I mean, her name was in their _twice_! Why weren't the odds in her favour? Amber swept the crowd for her father and Poppy, and then she saw them. Her father was _crying_. She had never seen him cry, not even when her Mother died. Her eyes then fell to Poppy; her little sister's golden eyes looked somewhat confused, but she blew a kiss to her big sister all the same.

"All I want to say is, big things come in small packages"

The crowd came to life then, like someone had switched their batteries. They began nodding their head in admiration. Amber was quite popular in her neighbourhood, many knew her. Although she was shy, they knew she was determined.

"That's the spirit!" Clementine beamed "Now for the boys" Clementine waltzed over to the boys bowl and grabbed a name.

"The lucky boy is Damien Tifton!"

No-one emerged from the crowd, a slow minute passed as everyone waited for Damien Thomson to appear, he didn't.

"Damien, may I remind you that if you do not show yourself then we will come and find you. I suggest that you come here now, instead of embarrassing yourself in front of all Panem" Clementine suddenly snapped.

A low moan came from the fourteen year old boy section. A scrawny, spotty ginger boy, wearing a brown shirt and pants, slowly made his way to the stage. He had a fresh bruise that was blossoming on his jaw and his eyes were brimmed with tears and unlike his district partner, he could not contain them. He was howling before he reached Clementine and her offer to say anything.

"Please. Please not me. I don't want to die" he bawled into the microphone.

"Well it seems like they're no volunteers this year, so rules are rules" Clementine shrugged. Damien felt like an idiot, crying in front of the whole country, but his eyes refused to stop weeping. The female tribute was younger and smaller than him, and _she _wasn't crying and she had even gotten herself remembered, already. But God, he didn't want to die. He knew that when he was thinking to himself on the kitchen floor, despite his parents, despite his unfavourable odds, despite everything; he wanted to _live_.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I present your tributes! Congratulations you two, shake hands now!"

The crowd remained silent as the two tributes limply shook hands; Amber even managed to throw a quick smile into the camera. She was always a bright one.

**R&R (: **


	9. District 8 reapings

**A/N: Hi guys, sorry but this will be the last update for about a week because I'm going on holiday soon. But don't worry, I will update as soon as I get back! :) **

**District 8 Reapings**

**Livia Phoenix **

Livia traced the creased picture of her siblings. There was six year old Ivy, with her beautiful blonde hair and shining green eyes. There was Moss, only five years old, and he was beaming straight into the camera. And finally there was her sister Elk, Livia's favourite sibling. Elk looked just like a younger version of Livia, with her dirty blonde curly hair, hazel eyes and freckled face. A tear rolled down Livia's cheek when she remembered how these children died. How she watched her kid brother and two sisters drown, and not being able to swim herself, could do nothing to save them. Just watch them die. Another tear fell down her face when she remembered the other people that died from the flood that broke into the district that day. Dozens of people, drowning like wasps…

"Livia?" Livia's door cracked open and her mother, Autumn, walked in with something in her hands. Livia quickly put the picture back where she kept it, under her pillow. After the deaths of the children, the whole family sank into a deep depression. Only now, are things beginning to get back to normal.

"Yes, mother?" Livia smiled

"I made this for you; I hope it's the right size…"

Livia's mother held out a cute yellow sundress with orange beads around the middle. But how could her mother afford to make this? Her family were not exactly the richest in the District…

"I traded my wages for the fabric at the textiles factory" her mother said, as if answering Livia's thoughts.

"Oh, mother. It's beautiful. Thank you" Livia thanked Autumn with a smile.

"Your welcome. Now, incase your picked we can show the other districts that were just as good as them"

Livia flinched, the very thought of being reaped made her shudder.

"Not that you would ever be picked" Livia's mother quickly added then kissed her daughters forehead. "Come now, let's see it on"

Livia stripped herself of her dull itchy navy skirt and grey blouse and slipped into the exciting soft cotton dress. She looked into the mirror and smiled with glee. She had never owned anything so pretty. She fingered the orange beads that rested on her stomach when a new voice behind her said:

"You look gorgeous!" Livia's elder sister, River, gasped from the doorway of Livia's bedroom.

"Thank you" Livia blushed as River entered the room.

"We better get going" their mother said "oh, and River? You look gorgeous too"

Livia hadn't really noticed what her sixteen year old sister was wearing; it was a dress similar to the one she was wearing. But River's dress was light green instead of yellow and had white beads around the middle instead of orange ones.

"Thank you mother and I agree we really should get going now. The last thing we want are angry peacekeepers on our case"

The three made their way out of the bedroom. But Livia paused at the doorway and gently waved to the picture of her younger siblings- just like she did every time she left her house.

**Chale Chadwick**

Chale looked at his reflection in confusion. There was his natural chestnut hair, his glowing green eyes and his tall body. But his looks were not the reason for Chale's confusion. It was his clothing. A pair of stretchy, loose khaki brown pants? A soft, cotton white t shirt? Two comfortable, navy sandals? How much did his Father pay his workers to make this outfit? On cue, there was a knock at his door and his father strolled through it, looking very smug in a light blue buttoned shirt and black trousers.

"Like your reaping outfit huh son?"

"Um, yeh, it's very nice. Did you make it?" Chale asked, remembering that his father was once talented with a needle and thread.

"Don't be stupid; I had the workers make it today at the textiles factory. Being the manager I can always slip in my own requests between their shifts. And I didn't even have to pay them that much for it either, they're so dumb I bet they wouldn't notice if I cut half their salary. Could make a nice little profit y'know"

Chale wanted to gag at his father's cruel words and actions. Infact, he wanted to rip the outfit from his body, knowing that it had been made out of greed and unfairness. How could his father be so selfish? The majority of District 8 live in box houses, wore dull clothes and ate square meals. And here was Chale's father, Vince Chadwick, who already lives in a well furnished house, wears rich clothing (which he probably orders his workers to make for him without pay) and always has enough to eat. Perhaps too much to eat, Chale glances at his father's bulging stomach.

"Isn't that a little unfair?" Chale asked carefully.

"What?" Vince suddenly snapped. "Are you being ungrateful?"

"No of corse not! I was just a little concerned that these workers haven't been paid for their work. I think they all have families to feed and-"

"You selfish little brat!" His father's boom of a voice suddenly interrupted Chale's train of thought. "I work my ass of to provide for you and this is the thanks I get!"

Chale took a deep breath. Despite the temptation to correct his father and say that infact the workers work their ass of dusk till dawn and _he _just sits in an office all day he just politely returned:

"No father, I meant no disrespect, it's just that we are so wealthy. We could sometimes give back and-"

His father flapped a hand at him and cut him off again. "Listen boy, I could throw you out of this house in seconds, is that what you want?"

Chale shook his head slowly and Vince continued "We're lucky we live here. _Your _lucky. The workers aren't so, they know where their place is and it's not at the top of the food chain like us. Got it?" He spat at his son.

"Yes father" Chale returned blankly, then sighed. His father was as stubborn as anything. His opinion rarely altered after it was set.

"You gotta stop being so soft all the time. Everyone goes on about what a charming young man you are, blah blah blah" his father mimicked. "And you need to snap out of this happy mood straight away. No one ever got anywhere by acting nice all the time. Man up."

Chale nodded his head but you could tell how stormy his eyes were.

"Good, now I don't want to here any more of this charity shit. Get ready for the reaping. Be grateful it's your last"

"Calm yourselves District eight! The reaping haven't started yet! Contain your excitement!" Reynaldo Becton shouted into the speechless crowd who winced at his bright yellow jacket and long green nails.

"Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be _ever_ in your favour" he chuckled as he skipped over to the bowl of female names. He took one name out and danced back to centre stage.

"Your lucky lady is… Livia Phoenix!"

A blonde girl with hazel eyes made her way out of the fourteen year old column. She was wearing a happy yellow sundress; it was a shame that her expression was anything but happy.

"Do you have anything to say, my dear?" Reynaldo asked the young girl.

"No, thank you" Livia returned politely. Manners always mattered, no matter the circumstances. As Livia tried to keep the tears from her eyes, Reynaldo twirled over to the male bowl and dipped his hand in and chose a name.

"And the courageous young man is-" he unfolded the slip "Chale Chadwick!"

A handsome eighteen year old made his way to the stage. He was wearing a smart white shirt and light brown khaki pants. He had brown hair and vivid green eyes. Reynaldo offered him the chance to speak, but Chale just shook his head slightly, mainly because he was so confused. Chale always looks on the positive side of any situation. Okay, he had been reaped but the happy spin on it was this; first of all he was eighteen, therefore he must be at some physical and possibly mental advantage than the younger tributes. And also if he won, he would be showered in riches. He could help so many people, he could move away from his bitter father…

Chale's thoughts were interrupted by Reynaldo's booming voice announcing District eight's tributes. The audience clapped quietly, not wanting to be to enthusiastic about the barbaric Hunger Games. Reynaldo said something that Chale didn't hear but then he caught a glimpse of Livia, stretching her hand out. Oh, this is were they shake hands. Okay, he could do that. The two tributes hands shared a brief handshake and then they were both whisked away into the arms of the Capitol.

**R&R :)**


	10. District 9 reapings

**A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back from holiday so that means more updates! :D Enjoy! **

**District 9 Reapings**

**Runa Pavlick **

"Don't worry Able, they won't choose you" Runa held her little brother against her chest. Able, Runa's younger brother was crying, just like he did before every reaping. The two were in their shared bedroom in their square house.

"They could, it's still a possibility" Able sobbed into Runa's white and red spotty dress.

"But they won't. Your name is in there only three times. An older, poorer boy will be chosen"

"Why?" Able asked, looking his big sister in the eye.

"Because his name will be in there more times, silly!" Runa begun to tickle Able under his chin, he laughed uneasily.

"It's so horrible. All those children, every year…" he sobbed.  
"I know. I know" Runa cooed back.

A long minute passed when Runa spoke again:

"Please don't worry, Abe" she looked into her brother's dark brown eyes; they were the same shade as her own.

"I'll try" he snuffled.

Runa placed a hand on her brother's olive skin face and smiled:

"Everything will be fine"

"Do you promise?"

Runa flinched. How could she promise such a thing? Ideally, she would swear to him that he would never be picked for the dreadful Hunger Games and could remain in District nine forever. But, of corse, she couldn't. The reapings are unpredictable, as are the actual Games. And Runa and anyone else from any district are powerless against them. Runa pondered how she could explain this to her brother. Although he is fourteen, he has the personality of a twelve year old. He acts like each reaping is his first, and gets completely terrified before each one begins. But who can blame him? Who can blame any scared child forced to participate in such a disgusting 'sport'?

"You know I can't _promise_" Runa began "But I highly doubt anything will go wrong, okay?"

Able just nodded but then made a noise that suggested he could start bawling again.

"Able? Runa?" Their mother walked into the room, wearing a faded skirt and fake smile. "It's time to go my darlings"

"Okay, come on Able, up you get"

The three people left their house and joined a blank-faced crowd shuffling towards the square.

**Brecon Tides **

"Mother! Look what I've brought home!" Brecon called from the front door, holding something under his white blouse.

"What? What is it?" his half famished mother, Naomi, appeared in front of him.

"This" Brecon beamed and pulled a loaf of bread from under his shirt.

Naomi felt a little faint when she saw the loaf. Her mouth watered when its fresh smell drifted into her nostrils.

"You earned this at work?"

"Not exactly" Brecon mumbled.

"What do you mean?" his mother questioned him, her pale blue eyes growing anxious.

"Well, when no one was looking, I kind of…" Brecon gestured to his white shirt. "It's no big deal, really. I see other's do it all the time" he babbled, sweeping a hand through his jet black hair.

"Did anyone see you?" Naomi spoke quickly, shutting the front door and looking out the window as if a squad of peacekeepers would come in and arrest him, which they very well could.

"No of corse they didn't, you know I'm a fast runner. And we both know this isn't exactly the first time I've stolen food" Brecon explained.

"Well, okay then" she said as she and Brecon walked over to the couch, where Brecon's little brother, Oliver, was playing. When Oliver saw them he began to tug on his mother's skirt, his brown eyes pleading.

"Mommy can we please eat now? I'm really hungry, and so is teddy"

"Corse we can, Olly" Brecon answered for his mother who exchanged a look with her eldest son. Three year old Olly looked terrible, all colour has been drained from his face and you could easily count his ribs. His mother was the same, she had dark circles under her eyes and her cheekbones were clearly visible. Neither of them had eaten in days; they were starving, you could see it. Everyone was always hungry in district nine, seeing as you're not aloud to, well- supposed to eat the bread you make there was rarely any other option than to just take it and hope you don't get caught. Brecon and his family live in the poorest part of the district. They lived in what looks like a shack; they had no money for improvements. Brecon has been stealing food for his family ever since his father walked out on them for another woman. Without Brecon's thieving, his family would surely starve too death.

After eating a small meal of bread and some dried apricots that Naomi found under a cupboard. The family looked somewhat happier. Some of Olly's natural colour came back to his cheeks and Naomi actually managed to smile at Brecon:

"Sorry I was off with you earlier. I was just worried about the peacekeepers-"

"It's okay, I totally understand your concern" Brecon nodded to Olly "we wouldn't want peacekeepers around him"

Naomi flinched but then agreed and said:

"Thank you, Brecon. For all the food you've brought us over the years. You have provided for us so well, I couldn't have asked for a better son. Thank you"

Brecon's lips spread into a smile "No problem"

"Welcome! Welcome" Welcome! Welcome!" A woman in a purple tutu walked onto the stage and declared herself to be Brenna Dawson, the escort for District nine. She babbled on for a while, about the dark days, and the first uprising and how everybody ended up at the reapings. Half of the district looked if they were going to fall asleep there and then until Brenna giggled:

"Ladies first? And may the odds be _ever_ in your favour!"

She pranced over to the female bowl and merely hovered her hand over the top of the bowl. Her finger nails were about four inches long, a ridiculous length for anyone who lives in a district, but this would probably be considered quite normal for a capitol citizen. Anyway, her bizarre nails picked the female name and Brenna looked into the audience, expecting them to be impressed. They only glared back, the females holding their breath and closing their eyes as Brenna frowned and read out:

"Runa Pavlick!"

A short seventeen year-old with brown hair and brown eyes made her way to the stage. She has tears rolling down her face and refuses the offer to say anything to her district. As the escort waltzes over to the boy's bowl, Runa is secretly embarrassed to what she is wearing. You could easily spot her red dress in the sea of beige shirts and dull trousers that the others were wearing. She really stands out, she didn't like that. She tries her best to stop crying, but she can't. It seems like the words _'You are going to die'_ have been tattooed in her brain. She glances at Brenna who had another name imprisoned in-between her nails. She took a deep breath and said:

"And the brilliant young man is- Brecon Tides"

A handsome, yet skinny boy made his way from the sixteen year old section. He had jet black hair and pale blue eyes. His skin was the exact shade as his district partners.

"Do you have anything to say, Brecon?" Brenna questioned.

"Bring it on" Brecon replied, and actually managed to throw a smile into a camera.

"Ooh, how exciting!" she squeaked back "Citizens of District nine, I give you your tributes for the 67th annual Hunger Games!"

Runa looks down, but Brecon smiles into the crowd, desperate to be remembered. He see's quite a few people nod at him, as if to say '_We know what you're doing. Good for you kid' _He catches a glimpse of his mother; she's buried her face into Olly's hair and the movement of her body suggests she is crying. Seeing this, tears threaten to fill his eyes. Now that he is heading for a certain death, how will his family eat? A flood of panic washes over him, but he shakes the thought from his head, determined that he will find a way to deal with it later.

"Now, shake hands you two" Brenna speaks happily.

Brecon and Runa brush hands and the crowd clapped awkwardly. More tears spilled over Runa's face but Brecon continued to wave and smile into the cameras… thank god he's a good actor.

**What did you think? Please R&R (: **


	11. District 10 reapings

**District 10 reapings **

**A/N: Okay guys, seeing as both tributes were created by the same author I decided to write this reaping a little differently. I hope you like it! **

**Lilee Brooks **

"You'll be fine, honey. I promise" Lilee's aunt kissed her on the forehead. "You know I would come to the reapings with you, don't you?" she asked her niece who nodded in response "It's just that your sister is too sick to be left on her own" On cue, a coughing-fit came from the bedroom followed by several moans and sniffles.

"It's okay. I understand" Lilee spoke as she walked to the front door.

"Good luck, honey" her aunt called after her, as she hurried into the bedroom to attend to Lilee's younger sister.

Lilee slumped to the reapings along with a large crowd of anxious looking people; slightly saddened by the lack of support she had by her family. She couldn't help wishing her mother was with her, she wished her mother would stroke her hair, the way she did when she was little. She wanted her mother to tell her everything is going to be alright. Lilee took a deep breath and tried not to think about her mother's death. She didn't want to remember the day of the stampede…

Lilee's feet rubbed against the cheap material of her shoes as she walked towards the square. She was sure her toes had blisters on them, especially since the shoes were two sizes to big. "Damn you district eight" she mumbled.

"Hey, Lil" a familiar voice came from beside her, Lilee turned to find her best friend, Gloria, next to her.

"Oh, hi Gloria" Lilee returned politely as Gloria joined Lilee in the walk to the reapings. Gloria was a tanned girl with chin length black hair and brown eyes and like Lilee, she was a little shy- even around her best friend. Neither of them spoke after that, but that didn't matter; silence suited both of them.

**Josef Mono **

"Ha! Checkmate!" Josef cried gleefully

"No! What?!" Josef's nineteen year old brother, Luca, shrieked.

Josef just smiled and pointed to the pawns on the small dusty chessboard. Luca's jaw dropped and said:

"Beaten by a sixteen year old?"

"Yup. Get use to it" Josef sniggered back.

"Wow" Luca raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You're a bit proud, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, what can I say?" Josef shrugged "I like to win"

"Hm, well okay then" Luca said, clearly irritated that he had lost the game of chess.

Luca stood up and began to gather his things. Josef saw this and spoke:

"Where are you going? Are you coming to the reapings with me?"

"I would, but you know I gotta work. I need to finish off a load of paperwork and my boss said if I don't come in today then I shouldn't bother coming in Monday"

"Four day weekend?" Josef joked.

"Sadly, not" Luca replied as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "But you'll be fine. Don't worry, kiddo" he ruffled Josef's blonde hair and walked out the door.

"I'm not a kid" Josef muttered to himself, then glanced at the clock. Oh crap, time to go. Josef pulled on his only pair of shoes took a deep breath and walked out the door to the reapings. Josef lives fairly close to the square so the long wouldn't be that long.

Lilee and Gloria were queuing to sign in. Around them were a lot of crying families and weeping children. Another pang of sadness hit Lilee when she remembered how much she missed her mother. Gloria lives in the orphanage and the people who run it are so cruel that they usually don't bother to come to the reapings. The two sixteen year olds gulped as they saw the stage light up. Suddenly Gloria grinned and nudged Lilee's arm.

"Hey, look who's over there"

Lilee followed Gloria's gaze and spotted Josef Mono, her life-long crush, who was at the end of a very long queue for a sign-in table.

"Oh god" Lilee muttered and hid behind Gloria.

"I don't understand why you don't just talk to him" Gloria shrugged.

"_Because _I think he knows that I like him" Lilee blushed.

"I think everyone knows you like him" Gloria giggled.

"Oh, and that's supposed to be helpful is it?"

"Look. Why don't we just walk right by him and see if you catch his eye?"

Lilee sighed "Fine. May as well"

"Walk sexy" Gloria whispered suddenly.

_Walk sexy? _Lilee thought to herself. She didn't know how to do sexy; she was too innocent. She had once seen the older girls kick their legs out as they took each step when they're boys near them. So maybe that's what Gloria meant.

The two girls pranced towards Josef's direction, Lilee attempting this new walking –style by kicking her legs out ever so slightly with each step she took. When they were about two meter's from where Josef was, Lilee's left shoe suddenly flew of her foot and landed on Josef's face.

_Oh. Holy. Jesus. _

Josef recoiled as if someone had slapped him and raised his eyebrows when he saw the large shoe that was now on the floor. A little to his left stood a hysterical girl with black hair and a tomato red Lilee. Josef glanced at the shoe and then at Lilee's bare foot, obviously catching on.

"Yours?"

Lilee nodded, completely and utterly embarrassed. Right, that was the last time she took advice from Gloria, silence is obviously the best way forward with her.

"I'll leave you two to…talk" Gloria giggled and ran off to join another sign-in queue.

Josef tossed Lilee her shoe and she placed it back on her foot, still embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry, Josef" Lilee said as she joined him in the queue "Honestly, that was not meant to happen"

"Okay" Josef spoke plainly. That's what Lilee liked about Josef, he didn't speak that much, just like Lilee didn't. Not that he was shy, just the fact that he didn't have much to say.

The two put forward their fingers to be pricked and Lilee finally said:

"So how are you Josef? We haven't spoken in a while"

"I'm alright I guess" he returned "how about you?"

Lilee smiled "I'm okay thank you, but my sister is quite ill" she said, trying to get a conversation started.

"Oh, well I hope she gets better soon" Josef said blankly.

"Thank you"

"Hello District ten!" Anais Haffaton exclaimed happily. "I am your escort for this year's Hunger Games!" she grinned into the wordless crowd. "And may the odds be _ever_ in your favour!" The district ten citizens barely caught onto a word this woman was saying as they were all distracted by her teeth. Anais Haffaton had _turquoise _tinted teeth…

"Wake up district ten!" the Capitol woman called into the crowd, slightly annoyed by their lack of enthusiasm. When the majority of eyes were set on her she said:

"Ladies first?"

Anais danced over to the female bowl and chose a name, she skipped back to centre stage and read out "Lilee Brooks!"

Sighs of relief escaped the lips over everyone besides the blonde sixteen year old. She turned to face her friend and whispered "Is this really happening?"

A teary- eyed black haired girl just slowly nodded her head. The girl took a deep breath and made her way up to the stage. She was wearing a small white dress and she had blue-green eyes and a large nose. A frightened look was plastered on her face and Anais asked her is she wanted to say anything. Lilee didn't even hear the escort; her eyes were fixed on Josef who was avoiding her gaze. She had never got to tell him how she felt- how she still feels…

"Now for the boys!" Anais sings into the crowd. She impatiently grabs a name from the bowl and reads it out.

"Josef Mono!" many gasps came from the crowd as a sixteen year old boy walked to the stage. The boy looked strong and had blonde hair with blue eyes. He was wearing a creased white blouse and a pair of khaki pants.

"Hello Josef! Do you have anything to say?" Anais asked him eagerly, hoping that he would be more interesting than the female tribute, who was wide-eyed with shock.

"Not particularly" he tossed back.

"Now why do you think everyone was gasping when your name was called?" Anais pressed on, desperate to get something interesting out of this boy. She needed _something _to work with. Josef eyed Lilee, whose eyes were filled with tears. Of corse he knew why people were shocked; everyone knew Lilee had had a crush on him for years. And now they were being locked in an arena to kill one another. Josef felt much sympathy for Lilee, she was shy and cute and of corse he was flattered by her interest… but it could never work out- especially not now.

"I don't know" Josef muttered into the microphone, not wanting to embarrass Lilee.

"Fine then" Anais snapped but then put on her best smile "Ladies and Gentlemen I give you're your district ten tributes for the 67th annual Hunger Games!" The crowd remained silent, some were even crying although Lille held her tears back.

Anais scowled that she was stuck with such a boring district "shake hands you two" she grumbled. Lilee put her hand forward, her blue-green eyes still withholding the tears. Josef squeezed Lilee's hand slightly, his blue eyes clearly apologetic; because now, based on his survival, one way or another… Lilee Brooks had to die.

**R&R :) **


	12. District 11 reapings

**District 11 Reapings **

**Katherine 'Kitty' Plyte **

"Hey, Katherine" One of Kitty's brothers greeted to her with a smirk.

"It's Kitty" Kitty spat back "You know I hate that name, it sounds so girly"

"Oh, so you're not a girl, right?" he teased.

Kitty's jaw tightened, her hazel eyes blazing with anger. It wasn't hard to irritate this seventeen year old. She had once told a nine year old that she would kick his ass if he ever spoke to her again; and he only asked her for directions. Kitty despises young children. She avoids them as if they were flea-infested rats.

"Don't annoy her, Jared" Kitty's other eighteen year-old brother, Martin, entered the shop.

"Exactly. Fuck off" Kitty mumbled.

Jared hissed something under his breath and then took a seat next to his sister. The three siblings were in the family butchers, the shop that provided money and food for them. The shop that kept them from starvation. Jared, Martin and Kitty idly sat down on the floor watching their father chop up pieces of beef. It was just something to do before the reapings started. Their father was a very cruel man who despised children just as much as Kitty did. He only had children for two reasons; first of all, because his wife had craved them from an early age. Secondly, so they could help him run the butchers. Until his offspring's were at least eleven, he avoided them completely. But now that Kitty, the youngest, had turned seventeen, he got along well with all of them. Right now, his grey eyes narrowed and he snarled:

"Don't just sit there! Help me cut the meat. I want to be the first shop open after the reapings are over"

Kitty sighed and slumped up to the chopping board, grabbed an axe, and began to chop the meat up into neat cubes. Kitty had become quite handy with an axe; she had had six years practise hacking pieces of meat.

Her father smiled at her, and then wandered off somewhere, Kitty noticed Jared and Martin mumbling to eachother, being the impatient and rude girl she is, she half shouted:

"What are you talking about?"

"Just wondering who will be reaped this year, that's all" Jared spoke

"Oh, well, there was a rumour that a boy was planning to volunteer" Kitty paused from chopping and wiped her brow. Working at a butchers' is harder than it seems.

"Really? Who?" Jared perked up, looking excited.

"I can't remember exactly" Kitty frowned "Garry somebody? I don't know"

"Oh, I guess we'll just have to wait and see" Jared sighed and then noticed Martin's expression. Martin's face was crumpled and his eyes were bearing tears. Jared and Kitty exchanged a glance, knowing exactly what was wrong with their brother. A few years ago, when Martin was sixteen and Kitty was fourteen- Martin was reaped. He completely lost it and broke down on the stage, but then Martin's boyfriend, Thom, volunteered for him. Thom died on the first day at the cornucopia and it completely killed Martin. He hasn't been able to talk about people volunteering since.

Kitty abandoned her axe and slab of meat and walked over and directly sat on her brother's lap and threw her arms around his neck. Kitty may be rude and impulsive, but she loves her family; especially her favourite sibling, who was bawling into her chest. Jared rubbed Martins shoulder as Kitty wiped his tears away and muttered:

"I'm sorry. I forgot"

"It's okay" Martin sniffed "It just hurts to remember"

Jared was about to say something but then their father walked back into the butchers and spoke:

"It's time to go"

**Gavin Patch **

"That's it, son. But put more force into it" Gavin's father, Tyson, instructed his son, eyeing the spear in his hand.

Gavin raised the spear and aimed at a tree. He hurled it against the bark, and it landed straight in the middle of the pine tree.

"Like that?" Gavin smirked

"Exactly like that, well done" Tyson admired his son's throw.

The father and son were in an out-of-bounds area, illegally of corse, but as they were both fit they just about got away with it. They had been coming here for about six years for Tyson to train his son. This area was a wide and open field with a wood on the far side. Perfect for training. Gavin and his father both planned for him to volunteer for the annual Hunger Games when he was eighteen, which was this year, in a couple of hours infact.

"How are you feeling?" Tyson asked Gavin as they walked towards the square.

Gavin shrugged and said: "I'm feeling okay. It's the Hunger Games, no big deal"

"Well all I want from you is to give everyone a good show. Show them that District eleven isn't weak"

That's what had always confused Gavin. He thinks and acts like someone would from districts one, two and four. It seems to him that was born in the wrong district. District eleven is a poor district, everyone knows it. Out of the whole of district eleven, why are he and his father the only people who adore the Hunger Games? Each year Gavin gawps at how talented the Career tributes are- their skill and strength. He admires them.

"Now. I want you to wear this" his father said as he pulled out a bow-tie from his pocket. Gavin stared at it with awe and said:

"Fuck no. The blouse is enough" he gestured to the creased white blouse he was wearing "I'm not wearing any posh knob bow-tie"

"Gavin. You're wearing the bow tie and that is that" his father snarled at him and fastened it around his son's neck without further discussion.

"That's better; I want you to look smart. Now, you best be off to sign in. I'll see you in the Justice Building" Tyson patted his son's shoulder and walked off. Gavin smiled at his father and walked towards the reapings. As soon as his father was out of site he ripped the fancy bow-tie from his neck and threw the wretched thing on the floor.

Carlisle Webbs skipped onto the stage in skin tight pink pants and an orange belly top which made the males of the district feel a little queasy. "Welcome! welcome welcome welcome _welcome_!" he sang into the silent crowd. "I am Carlisle Webbs, your escort for the sixty seventh annual Hunger Games! Aren't you excited?" he beamed into the crowd. Silence. "Hm, let's just get on with it then." he grumbled, obviously irritated he had been stuck with such a boring district. "Now may the odds be_ ever_ in your favour, ladies first?" he asked, throwing a wink into the crowd. He chose a name as the columns of females squeezed each other's hands and held their breath.

"The young woman is… Katherine Plyte!"

A tall girl with olive skin appeared from the seventeen year old section. She had long thick black hair and hazel eyes. Her appearance was somewhat catlike, maybe it was her narrow eyes and pointed nose. She seemed relatively calm as she made her way to the stage and when she is offered the chance to speak but she only spoke, directly to the escort:

"My name, it's Kitty" she said blankly.

"Oh, right" Carlisle blinked rapidly "Kitty, _meow_!" He made a paw gesture to the crowd who only rolled their eyes in response. By this time Kitty was fighting the temptation to punch her escort in the face.

"Now for the boys" Carlisle nodded and flounced over to the boys bowl.

"And your male tribute is-"

"I volunteer!" a low voice came from the crowd.

Carlisle looked a little faint and the crowd gasped and whispered.

"It seems like we have a volunteer! Do come up my boy!" Carlisle screamed with glee. A huge eighteen year old made his way to the stage. He had very pale skin and had brown hair and golden eyes which stood out against his white blouse and black trousers.

"What's your name?" Carlisle asked eagerly as soon as Gavin was on the stage.

"Gavin Patch" he relied back with a smirk.

"Do you have anything to say?"

"Hm, not really. Can we go now?"

"Ahh! How enthusiastic!" Carlisle exclaimed. "District eleven! I give you Kitty Plyte and your very first volunteer, Gavin Patch!" The crowds were staring at the stage in disbelief, was this boy insane? District eleven had never had a volunteer before, he may be a keeper. The crowd clapped quietly and Kitty tried to spot her family amongst them. She saw Martin; he was sobbing into Jared who was trying to hold back the tears himself. Kitty quickly looked away as she feared she could start crying herself.

"Shake hands you two" Carlisle spoke

The two tributes faced eachother _'Oh it was Gavin, not Garry'_ Kitty thought to herself when she remembered how it irritated her when she failed to remember the volunteer's name earlier. _'So the rumours were true'_ The two exchanged a handshake and then were led to the Justice building where one proud father was waiting for his son, the volunteer. And where one family was waiting for their daughter, who was only the average tribute.

**What did you think? R&R (: **


	13. District 12 reapings

**A/N: I am _so_ sorry for the slow update. Please don't hate me :'( I know it sounds like a lame excuse but I have been really ill. I've been to the doctors and he has given me some weird medicine thingy :S But yeh, hopefully it will start to make me feel better :) Thank you all for being so patient, you guys are awesome :) **

**District 12 Reapings**

**Maya Lupeni **

Maya was woken by the sound of singing and the sense of others around her. She opened her amber eyes and poked her head out of the rough blankets and was greeted by her smiling family singing:

"_Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Maya, happy birthday to you!"_ her mother and father smiled down at her.

"Morning" Maya greeted her parents sleepily.

"Good morning, Maya Papaya" her father teased.

Maya frowned she _loathed_ that nickname, and her father knew it.

"He's only joking, darling" her mother spoke "look what we got you" she said and pulled a box from behind her back. Maya's eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face smiled. Birthday presents were a luxury in District twelve, you were lucky enough if people even remembered your birthday, let alone get you something to celebrate it by. This was the second birthday present Maya had ever received in her life, maybe because it was her sixteenth.

Maya curiously opened the box and found two large boots. They were sturdy looking and dark green; they had real laces and were ankle height. The sixteen year old held her breath and bit down hard on her tongue for fear of saying something wrong. Maya's head was whizzing. How many meals had her mother skipped for this? How many extra hours had her father worked to afford these boots? They look like they cost a fortune, well, for a District twelve citizen anyway.

Her mothers' face fell "Don't you like them? We thought we'd get them for you because we know how much you love running in the woods and it is your sixteenth after all and-" she was cut of by her daughter flinging her arms around her screaming:

"I love them!"

Her father smiled and chuckled:

"Well after the reapings are done and over you can run in the woods all day. See if you can find anymore of those berries…" He trailed off; food was running really short at the moment.

Maya sighed; she forgot the reapings.

"Oh. Yeh" she mumbled "I forgot about the reapings"

"Well don't you worry honey, you can go out after they're all done and over" her mother spoke, already dismissing the thought that there is still a possibility of her daughter being picked. "Now you better get dressed" she added then the two adults left the room.

Maya dressed in the one dress she owned, it was an ugly beige colour and the cheap material itched. But who was she to complain? Maya grinned as she pulled her new exciting boots on and raised here eyebrows at how comfortable they were. Next she turned to the slab of glass she called a mirror and attempted to un-tangle her long black waves. Then examined the scars on her arms, and made sure her dress was covering them. Maya had gained these scars when she was trying to help a small injured wolf deep in the woods of District twelve. It had misjudged her intentions and attacked her. She was bleeding pretty badly and her family couldn't afford any medicine, so the cuts just healed up on there own, leaving ugly scars behind them.

**Lucien Damson **

'_Go on. Hit me again you Bastard' _Lucien thought to himself as his step-fathers fist came down on him again, against his ribs this time. This was the usual scenario when Rhys, Lucien's step father, was drunk and Lucien had gobbled up the remains of what little food they had.

"Fucking selfish idiot" Rhys spat at his step-son "You always eat the food- fat little asshole" He wobbled and slurred his words at Lucien.

"Well maybe you should concentrate on stealing more food than white liquor then!" Lucien spat at Rhys.

It was clear that these two didn't get on. After Lucien's mother married Rhys she died a few months later. That meant, with no other relatives, Rhys was now Lucien's legal guardian, much to his disgust.

Rhys punched Lucien in the stomach which caused him to spin around and land hard on the cold floor of their house. Well, it was more like a shack. Rhys wobbled out the room and left Lucien on the floor, puking up whatever food he had eaten earlier. After he was done, Lucien just laid on the floor, not caring that he was next to his pool of vomit. Lucien's grey eyes tried to focus on a spider crawling across the floor, but his vision was blurred. _'What is the fucking point?'_ he wondered to himself _'What is the point in living anymore?" _He glanced at his wrists which were covered in scars. Lucien had attempted suicide many times, but the blade he used had never been quite sharp enough. He wanted to die; he didn't want to live this life anymore. He just wanted to perish, and be forgotten. Well he didn't need to worry about that last point. People barely knew he existed. He's just another starving kid from the seam. Who would miss him?

Effie Trinket waltzed onto the stage in her ridiculously high heels and large curled wig. "Welcome welcome!" she sang to District twelve (which looked like a colossal mess from her point of view) "The time has come to select one courageous young man and woman for this year's Hunger Games!" she sang into the silent crowd full of skinny and ugly people. "Now, who to go first?" Effie taunted the crowd. "The ladies of corse!" she squeaked and paced to the girls bowl and picked a name out.

"Your female tribute is… Maya Lupeni!"

A gasp came from the sixteen year-old female column and then a black haired girl with amber eyes suddenly bolted from the crowd, trying to escape the reapings. That is foolish of corse, because no one can escape the Hunger Games. Three Peacekeepers caught her and hauled her to the stage where she stood, shaking like a leaf.

"Now. There is no need to be silly" Effie scolded "do you have anything to say?"

"It's my- my birthday" she said before she could stop herself.

"Oh, then happy birthday! This one will be a birthday to remember!" Effie squealed and the paraded over to the boy's bowl. "Now for the boys" she said and plucked a name out.

"Lucien Damson!" A fourteen year old boy looked stricken for a split second but then simply shrugs and makes his way to the stage. He had grey eyes and brown hair and looks somewhat like a rat. He is wearing brown pants and a navy T-shirt, through his cheap clothes; you could easily see how skinny this boy was.

"Do you have anything to say?" Effie asked eagerly.

Lucien shook his head. He really didn't know how he felt. This all happened so fast. Well at least he was getting away from this god-forsaken District now. He didn't really care where he ended up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I give you your tributes for the 67th Hunger Games!" Effie screamed "shake hands you two"

The birthday girl and the boy from the seam faced eachother, shared a brief handshake then broke apart.

**Now, we're off to the Capitol! Please R&R my lovely's :D **


	14. Parade

**A/N: Okay guys, so here we are at the Capitol! I will try my best to mention as many tributes in each chapter, but I will equal it out throughout the story. So if your tribute isn't in one chapter it's likely that he/she will be in the next. Anyway, here is the Parade! I chose the best outfit out of the two tributes, I hope you like it! **

**Jaden Mordeen, district 1 **

Jaden's stylist and prep team buzzed out of a room labelled _District One chariot prep room._ Alone at last, Jaden could really admire himself. He walked half way across the room to a huge mirror. Jaden smirked at his reflection, he looked hot. No…mega hot. He hated to admit it, but Jaden secretly adored his stylist, well the clothes she produces anyway. How could he not? His chariot outfit was completely breathtaking. Jaden was wearing a golden tuxedo with tiny gems scattered down the sleeves and down the front of the silk white shirt he wore. The back of the tuxedo was hidden behind a golden cape which shimmered whenever he moved. On his head Jaden wore a small tilted crown. That was Jaden's favourite part of his costume. The crown suggests that he is already the victor, that all the other tributes are insignificant obstacles he must overcome to claim his victory…

"Jaden?" a voice came from behind him.

Jaden whirled around to find Naylye, his district partner, standing a couple of feet behind him. Jaden hadn't noticed her come in; he must have been too deep in admiration to have noticed.

"Hello Naylye" Jaden replied blankly as he looked at what she was wearing:

Her outfit was similar to his, except she was wearing a golden gown instead of a tuxedo. But she had the same gems and cape and even the same titled crown, which was resting on her crimson curls. That bothered Jaden, why has _she_ been given a crown as well? _He_ wanted to come across as the as the strong one, the obvious victor. Now it was ruined- You can't have two victors. Ugh. Naylye flinched when she saw Jaden glaring at her headwear. God, was he getting jealous over a costume crown? Pathetic. But Naylye knew she didn't want to anger her district partner. He's a big, strong, handsome ruthless Career. Yes, maybe getting on his bad side wouldn't be so smart, as Naylye was.

"I've seen some of the other costumes" Naylye spoke, just to break the awkward silence.

"And?" Jaden replied, walking across the room to sit on a sofa near Naylye.

"Well, District six look like idiots for starters" Naylye giggled as she sat opposite Jaden, which was quite difficult in her skin-tight dress.

"Of corse they do" Jaden shrugged "They do every year"

"Hm yes, I don't think fashion and trains should be mixed" Naylye spoke as she spread her arms out on the silk couch she was sitting on.

Jaden just raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly. A long minute passed and an awkward silence filled the room until Jaden said:

"So, who should we team up in the arena?"

Naylye was taken by surprised, she wasn't sure if Jaden would want her as an ally, especially as she had never trained. Nevertheless she was thrilled, if she was in the Career pack she would be safe- well as safe as you could get in the arena. Naylye had already decided her strategy for the training centre. Act ruthless and no body would cross you; send out death glares and people would shudder in your presence. Naylye always used to think the Hunger Games as cruel and unjust. But now that she was actually in the Capitol, she found that she was beginning to enjoy herself. The Hunger Games were rubbing off on her, but she didn't care…she almost felt like she _wanted_ to fight…

"Both tributes from two and four look promising" she spoke calmly, like she was expecting Jaden's offer "We'll have to see tomorrow, at the training centre"

**Carmina Bluerose, district 4**

"Don't you dare touch that!" Carmina's stylist slapped her hand away from her dress. Carmina sighed deeply; her chariot outfit was simply gorgeous but extremely revealing. Carmina was dressed in a tight aquamarine dress which had tons of green sequins on it. The dress was supposed to fall to her knees, but her stylist was tugging the fabric up, showing more of Carmina's tanned legs; the stylist must have caught sight of the other tributes and started to panic. She had slapped her hand away when Carmina attempted to pull the fabric back down, she didn't like tight clothing. Carmina stuck her bottom lip out.

"You ought to be grateful" her stylist suddenly snapped. "I was tempted to not even bother giving you a top and just give you two shells to cover your cleavage. It would have helped the mermaid effect, so stop your moaning!" Carmina's eyes widened, the very thought of that made her shudder, all those people would be staring at her…

She quit complaining.

Carmina heard a muffled laughter from across the room. Harvey Norden, her district partner was still surrounded by his prep team but she caught a glimpse of him laughing lightly to himself; he had obviously overhead the conversation. Carmina blushed and looked away, embarrassed. After Carmina's stylist had finished hemming the dress, and given her tribute a _touch-that-dress-you-die_ glare, she left the District Four chariot prep room along with Harvey's stylist and the two prep teams. Carmina instantly got up and looked at her reflection in the massive mirror. She scowled at the length of her new dress, she knew it would be pointless to pull it down; she'd probably tear the silk. The dress reminded her of her best friend, Leana; she liked dresses that were tight. Carmina wondered what Leana was doing right now; she wondered what her family was doing…

"Sugar cube?"

Carmina blinked and found Harvey standing next to her, holding his palm- full of sugar cubes- towards her. Harvey was wearing a pair of satin emerald-green trousers with different shades of green at the front, which looked somewhat like scales. The trousers also had blue ribbons woven down the side, implying that he was a merman. His chest was completely bare; Carmina couldn't help quickly glancing at his impressive four-pack. _He _obviously didn't have a problem with being half naked in front of Panem.

"Thanks" she took a sugar cube with a smile.

"Finnick showed me where to find them. He's got to be the best mentor _ever_" Harvey laughed and popped another sugar cube into his mouth. "Besides, I thought they might sweeten you up"

"Excuse me?"

Harvey fiddled with his fingers "Well, on the train you were always a little moody and you never really spoke to me much…which is weird because I thought you to be really bubbly and happy"

Carmina felt confused, then a little angry:

"Harvey. We are going into an arena to kill one another. I'm sorry if I'm not exactly jumping for joy"

"But- but you volunteered…" Harvey trailed off, his blue eyes swimming in confusion.

"Only for my friend, Leana, she has no training and I've been practising with some weapons. But I don't _really_ want to be here, Harvey" Carmina explained.

Harvey instantly felt bad. "I'm sorry" he muttered.

"Don't worry about it. There's nothing anyone can do about it now"

A long minute passed when Harvey eventually spoke:

"I like your dress" he swept a hand through his windswept brown hair.

Carmina thought to herself _Corse you do. It looks like something a hooker would wear. _Instead she just smiled and said:

"Thanks, you too" she glanced at his radiant body again.

Harvey followed Carmina's gaze to his stomach and a smirk quickly found a place on his face.

"You like my abs?" he asked cheerfully.

Carmina's eyes quickly snapped to his face and her jaw dropped.

"No! I mean, yes! I mean…" Carmina tripped over her words, trying to find an excuse "your skin looks very tanned, it's a nice shade" she babbled, hoping it was enough. Her face began to turn red.

"Right. Okay." Harvey chuckled. Then studied Carmina's tomato-red face and spoke:

"I tend to have that effect" he winked at her. "Besides" he continued "I like your _'tan'_, too" he glanced at her thigh and Carmina couldn't help but giggle.

_Tributes. Please report backstage where your chariots are waiting. The parade will be starting in exactly five minutes. _

**Glenys Cherokee, district 6**

"I look like a freaking' idiot" Glenys district partner, Wren, muttered as he stepped onto the chariot. All twenty four tributes and twelve mentors were behind the humungous stage, all the mentors giving their tributes last minute advice. Glenys glanced at her mentor, a strange man named Iean Hudson. He wasn't really looking interested in anything, probably just wondering when he could get his next shot of morphling. Glenys looked at all the other tributes parade outfits. She was sure none of them looked as ridiculous as hers. Even district ten's black and white jumpsuit looked angelic in compression to what she was wearing. Glenys and Wren's costumes made the two tributes look like they have been in what seems like a car crash (well that's how Glenys saw it) Glenys was dressed in a dress that had huge pieces of scrap metal, just hanging off it. The slabs of metal were incredibly sharp, if you bumped into either of the tributes you would be staked for sure. As if that wasn't enough the metals were very heavy, movement was a struggle and even breathing was an effort. The dress was dragging her down. Being the shy, quite girl she is- she never complained. Not once. Wren was a different person. He had grumbled and cursed every second his chariot outfit was fitted; He was in a full black bodysuit with scraps of silver and red sharp metal limply clinging on to him. He's not afraid to share his opinion.

_Thirty seconds until parade starts. _

"Come on Glenys, up you get" Iean suddenly came to life and gestured to the chariot, not wanting to touch her incase he cut himself, then he shuffled off somewhere. Glenys nodded her head and wobbled in the ridiculously high heals she wore. She looked up to the tall chariot where Wren was smiling down at her.

"Need a hand?" he offered kindly.

Glenys smiled and held her hand out; she really liked her district partner. Wren was kind and fun-loving, not to mention he had a smile to die for. Wren took it without hesitation and pulled her up.

Two things happened then, first of all. District One's chariot rode out into the roaring Capitol crowds. Second of all, when Wren pulled Glenys onto the chariot, a loose piece of metal from her dress dug deeply into her forearm leaving a huge bloody gash. Only seconds had passed and the blood was already running to her fingertips. There was no one around to help…

The first chariot rode out into the screaming capitol people. Both tributes looked gorgeous. The boy was wearing a gold tuxedo and the red-headed girl was fitted in a golden dress with tiny gems that have been delicately placed over her gown. Both outfits were completed with long capes which shimmered with every movement and titled crowns resting on their heads. Perfect for reflecting luxury. The boy was waving confidently into the crowd, perhaps a little too confidently. Before long he was pointing to himself with both hands and began clapping himself and grinning. The audience didn't know how to react to that, they just continued cheering. The girl looked a little uncomfortable at first, but then she started smiling enthusiastically and wiggling her finger to the audience, obviously enjoying herself.

District Two was next, their tributes looking bold and strong, both waving enthusiastically to into the audience. The two were dressed in matching suits of roman armour. If you had brilliant eyesight you would be able to see the patens on their armour. Tiny spears and axes had been engraved into the golden armour that the two tributes wore, mimicking masonry very well. The tributes wore gladiator sandals on their feet, giving the impression that they are gladiators themselves, ready to fight.

District Three came after, a brown-haired girl smiling politely and a hard-faced boy just staring into the distance. The girl was dressed in a one shoulder silver dress with a lightning bolt on it. The dress was so bright it that it was clear that the chariot could not be holding anyone who was not from a district which manufactured electronics. The boy was wearing a silver suit, the exact same shade as the girls, with a lightning bolt on it. Even when the Capitol crowds cheered for him, he refused to smile. He barely acknowledged them.

District Four rolled out then, their tributes were good looking and barely clothed, which the audience seemed to like. The girl was wearing a tight aqua dress covered in green sequins and, with her blonde hair streaming over her shoulder, it was implied she was a mermaid which was clever seeing as District Four was in charge of fishing. She received many winks and cheers from the crowd and she grinned back at them, obviously happy. The boy received just as many winks, but also a huge amount of Wolfe-whistles from the female audience. Whether this was due to his radiant, muscled body, or the fact that he was so confident, I couldn't tell you.

The next chariot belonged to District Five containing two smiley tributes. They both were wearing silver tunics with square hats which look like they were sparking with electricity, representing the power plants in District Five. The girl was very small and had her hair in two cute pigtails, as soon as she was seen a chorus of _Aww_'s broke into the stadium. The little girl giggled and that increased the amount of attention she got. Due to this, hardly anyone noticed the boy.

District Six looked quite bizarre, but they usually did so the audience cheered them anyway. The boy tribute was very handsome and had a signature smile which all the Capitol audience seemed to love. But his looks were ruined by the sharp slabs of metal that hung of his black bodysuit. He was confident, and looked happy. He was cheerfully waving into the crowd and they roared back. The girl was waving gently, but with only one hand. She kept her right forearm behind her back and every so often she would wince and receive a concerned glance from her district partner. But in a way, it was good that they were dressed so badly. People would remember them.

District Seven rolled out into the stadium next. The two tributes were both in lime green bodysuits but you could barely see this as every inch of their suits were covered in dark pine needles, reflecting lumber well. The girl had blonde hair which had been scraped up into a tight bun, she looked rather young but that didn't stop her from waving to the audience, she looked a little timid- but the crowd seemed to like her. The boy was different. He had a fresh bruise that was just beginning to blossom on his jaw, he looked scarred to death and it looked like he was about to start crying. The crowd didn't cheer him much.

District Eight's chariot was pulled into sight, its tributes looking… amazing. Both tributes were smiling and waving enthusiacically. Both tributes were dressed in _rags_. Some big, some small. Some dirty, some clean. Some a measly brown colour, some a rich ivory. But these rags had been transformed into the most amazing costumes: A beautiful dress for the freckle-faced girl and a handsome tux for the smiling boy. The idea was pure genius, implying that District Eight was a poorer District, but could still produce beauty out of the little they possessed. Brilliant.

Up next, was District Nine. The girl was in a dress which looked like it was made from grain, though it was probably some Capitol-made material. She looked small for her age; she shyly waved at the crowd, hoping just to go by unnoticed. The boy was also dressed in grain, but not all of him was covered. His chest was bare and he only wore pants which also looked like they were made of grain. His body was not as impressive as the boy from District four but the crowd didn't seem to mind that. He smiled and waved into the crowd and they screamed back.

District Ten was next, the two tributes looking… interesting. The pair were in black and white jumpsuits which looked somewhat like cow skin. Seeing as 10 was in charge of Livestock, maybe the stylists thought that animal skin was a good idea. It seemed to work, loud cheers came from the audience. At first the blonde girl looked stricken, but as the chariot proceeded, she looked more comfortable and began waving to the audience. The boy looked a little cocky, though no where near as cocky as the boy from 1. He just looked proud and only smiled at the audience, never retuning their waves.

Out came District Eleven, looking quite bizarre. Both tributes had pastel yellow bodysuits on had green cloaks that were the colour of vomit. On their heads they wore funny looking hats, which obviously resembled the ear of corn, agriculture. Both tributes were hard faced and pale. The girl waved at the crowd, even though it looked like she was really uninterested in what they were screaming at her. The boy received many cheers as the Capitol finally got to see District Eleven's first volunteer.

Finally, District Twelve's Chariot rolled out into the stadium. The girl was wearing a jet black dress which clearly had large lumps of coal all over it, the dress was the exact colour of her long wavy hair. The boy's costume was more or less the same, except he was wearing a bodysuit. The girl was waving frantically into the crowd and looked pleased when they cheered in response. The boy looked…bored; there was really no other way to describe it. He did not wave, he did not smile. He just started straight ahead.

The twelve chariots eventually reached the training centre and the grand entranceway doors slammed shut, the enthusiastic crowd eventually fell silent. Only moments later, President Snow- a cruel and devious man with snow white hair and a plump, wrinkled figure- appeared on the balcony. He spoke in a clear yet strained voice, addressing the tributes:

"Tributes of Panem! We welcome you!"

The crowds started to roar again, the President spoke over them and they began to hush eachother.

"We all respect your courage and your sacrifice. We solute and honour you here. May the odds be _ever_ in your favour. Happy Hunger Games!"

The present's gaze touched each chariot as he spoke and then he withdrew from the balcony, a smug smile painted on his face. The crowds cheered loudly for the last time and the weary tributes began to disappear, they all needed a good nights sleep. Tomorrow was the first day of training.

**What did you think? I've never written a Parade before so please R&R :) **


	15. Training Day 1

**A/N: Hello my lovely's. Right, first day of training and I know you guys will probably be mixed up with names and whatnot, so I put the district after the name- if that gets irritating then just let me know. Now, just because your tribute's name is not in bold at a top of the paragraph does _not_ mean that they are not in this part of the story. This story is told from the third person so anyone could be in it, just to let you know. Please leave a review, and thank you all again for your amazing support :3 **

**Livia Phoenix, district 8**

Livia inhaled the sweet smell of silk and cotton, these Capitol beds were completely angelic; no knitted blankets back home could compare to this. Livia glanced at her bedside clock; the time read _07:57. _That's good, Livia's mentor, Reynaldo, told her that training didn't start until nine o'clock. That gave her an hour. Livia rolled over in the satin cushions as she pondered about Training. Obviously there were going to be a lot of people that had advantages, the careers for starters. There would be boys twice her size; girls who already knew twenty different ways to kill you will a knife…. Perhaps she better stick to survival for the first day, yes, today would be a survival day, learn about killing people tomorrow. Livia shuddered; she was the kind of girl who felt guilty about stepping on a beetle. How could she possible take a human life? She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to think of it. Livia clambered out of bed and was greeted by her training outfit. A tight black top and pants, with red and grey stripes down the sides. There was a large grey 8 in the middle of the top. Livia starred at the outfit for a long moment and eventually pulled it on. Suddenly, the smell of eggs drifted through the door and invaded Livia's nostrils. Hunger took over her and she wandered into the dinning room of the District Eights apartment. She found breakfast already on the table, looking and smelling fantastic. She sat down to dishes of ham, eggs, sausages, muffins, breads and uncountable amounts of fruits. Livia piled her plate high; she needed a lot of energy today. Ten minutes later, Chale shuffled into the room, Livia greeted him:

"Good morning, Chale"

"Morning, Mhmm something smells good"

Chale sat down next to Livia and began eating with her. Neither of them spoke much after that, they were both quite happy with silence. Soon their mentor, Cecelia, walked into the room- already washed and dressed, Reynaldo following her.

"Good morning, Cecelia" Chale greeted pleasantly "Good morning, Reynaldo"

Cecelia smiled and Reynaldo nodded his head once, he obviously had a hangover from the parties last night.

By the time everyone had finished breakfast, the time was _08:30 _butthat still gave them half an hour to be downstairs in the training centre.

**Lucien Damson, district 12**

"Lucien! You need to get up! Today is a big big day!"

Lucien's eyes half opened then he groaned and rolled over.

Effie Trinket continued to knock loudly on the door and began fussing:

"Lucien it is half past eight in the morning! You have _half and hour_ to be up, dressed and downstairs!"

"Go away, Effie" Lucien grumbled.

Lucien had no intension of waking up, or going to training for that matter. He knew he was going to die in the arena, so why fuss and stress in the little time he had to live? If he was going to die in three days time then so be it, but he was going to enjoy every moment of life until then.

"_Lucien!_"

"Erm, Lucien?" A different voice said from outside the door "You might wanna come out here because they're little bubbles beginning to form on the side of Effie's mouth"

"No. Go away, Maya" Lucien tossed back.

"Listen to me" Maya said, suddenly serious "I don't want to go to training either, but it's not going to kill you"

_Yet._ Lucien thought.

"And there is a lovely breakfast out here. _I'm_ going to eat mine now, come join us if you're hungry"

Maya's words tempted him; Lucien could already smell the succulent sausages and almost taste the texture of eggs in his mouth.

"But of corse, you would have to get dressed and come outside if you want that"

Maya was taunting Lucien like he was an infant who would only come out of his bedroom for sweets. Lucien knew this, but he didn't really care anymore. Hunger usually got the better of him. He cursed under his breath and pulled on his black training outfit with a large 12 in the centre, unlocked the door and stomped into the dining room, hungry.

His mentor, Haymitch Abernathy was sitting at the table, picking at a muffin. Effie was downing the black coffee and anxiously glancing at her watch. Maya had already finished her portion of eggs, sausages and fruit.

"Just this once" Lucien growled at his mentor, escort and district partner "then I'm done"

"Fine" Haymitch shrugged "It's your life, kid. Do with it what you will"

The twenty four tributes gathered in the large training centre, full of weapons, trainers, survival stations and assault courses. The tributes began whispering to eachother but then a tall, dark woman walked into the centre of them and began to speak. She introduced herself to be Atala; she said was the head trainer and it was her job to explain each station and get the tributes into shape to compete. Atala then spoke:

"In the next two weeks, twenty three of you will be dead. You are all here to be trained in the arts of survival and be prepared to fight to the death. You will be analysed throughout your training by the Gamemakers" Atala nodded her head to a large balcony, where fifteen or so people, in purple robes, were watching.

"Then, on the evening of the third day of training you will each have your private sessions and be presented with a score. This score will give the audience a rough idea if the odds are to be in your favour so I suggest you work hard to achieve a high one. They're four compulsory exercises and the rest is individual training, if you want to practise there'll always be trainers available. There is to be no fighting with the other tributes" Atala eyed the tributes from one, two and four.

"Trust me; you'll have plenty of time for that in the arena. My personal advice is to not ignore the survival skills; anyone can swing a sword but most of you will die from natural causes. Ten percent from infection, twenty five percent from dehydration and so on and so forth. So, without further ado- let the training commence. And remember, balance your time wisely"

**Saffron Clawford, district 2 **

Atala disappeared to the axe station; Saffron guessed that that was her specialty. The tributes began to spread out in the training centre. Saffron saw the two tributes from eight and seven, heading to the survival stations straight away. _Idiots_ she thought to herself. Despite being from 2, this was the first time Saffron had ever trained. She wasn't going to waste her time on survival today; today she needed to learn how to fight. She had an advantage at physical fighting as she always fought with her brothers back home… Saffron hadn't thought of home since she entered the Capitol. Despite the irritation they brought her, she missed her brothers especially Samyal, he was the oldest and Saffron's favourite sibling…

"You coming Saff?" Acron's voice interrupted Saffron's little flashback. Saffron snapped back to reality and saw Acron glancing at the knife station where the tributes from One were already being instructed on to throw. The girl was paying close attention; the boy just laughed and threw the knife. It landed on the bullseye, he had obviously trained before. The red-headed girl glanced at the boy and then back at the instructor.

"Yeah, let's go throw some knifes" Saffron replied, a lump building in her throat. She hoped she would be good at it; she was _desperate _to be in the career pack. Saffron and Acron walked over to join the District One tributes at the knife station. The boy, Saffron believed his name was Jaden, was already throwing more knifes at another target board, hitting bullseye almost every time. The girl, Naylye, just watched like _she_ had never trained before. When the instructor held a knife out to her, she took it limply but without hesitation. Acron looked like he was all ready to jeer at her but Naylye's knife found a home just outside the bullseye. She was no where as near as talented as Jaden, but she was pretty good. She turned around to smirk at Acron who was glaring at her by now.

Naylye felt like jumping for joy! That was the first time she had ever thrown a knife and she nearly got a bullseye! The feeling of it felt so good, she felt so powerful! She could only imagine how it would feel to do that to another tribute… To feel the power that she felt now, but much greater of corse. Only now, Naylye realises that she actually enjoys it here. Naylye could not believe how long she had been blinded to the brilliance of the Hunger Games, how has she not seen it before? If only she was sent to a training school at home, she would be unstoppable by now. That first knife had triggered the dark side to Naylye… She _wanted_ to fight. She _wanted_ to kill…

Naylye pledged to herself that she would follow her strategy, too appear ruthless and to intimidate the others. She'd probably enjoy it…

"Some things are good" Acron muttered "But other things are better" her flashed his teeth at the redheaded and grabbed a large knife and aimed it at a dummy. The knife whizzed through the air and landed in the dummy's throat.

Naylye merely shrugged.

"It's Saffron, right?" Jaden asked Saffron a moment later.

"Erm, yeh" Saffron replied awkwardly.

"Show us what you can do then" Jaden said, handing Saffron a knife.

_Shit, _Saffron thought to herself. Is this what happened every year? Was there some kind of test that the tributes had to pass in order to be in the Career Alliance?

Saffron gulped and positioned herself to attack the dummy. This wasn't the first time she had thrown a knife, she had once been taught by her father so she knew all the basics. The three other tributes were looking at her, the way examiners do when they come to evaluate a student's skills. Saffron knew the importance of this throw. If she threw the knife well, she would be in the Career pack. If not, they wouldn't bother with her. The three tributes were watching her, the two boys were looking with simple curiosity, Naylye was smirking at her, as if already knowing she would fail.

That did it, that smug little smile. Saffron visualised that the dummy had red curls, blue eyes and that smug little smile, and hurled the knife forward and caught the dummy directly in the head, making her look a hundred times better than she was.

Naylye's smile disappeared and was replaced by a glare. Acron raised his eyebrows and Jaden said:

"Nice"

Saffron felt relief wash over her body and now it was _her_ turn to smirk. Naylye growled in response but that seemed to entertain Saffron. Saffron's smile got wider, showing her teeth, Naylye's face hardened and she hissed:

"Don't push me, two"

Saffron lightly laughed and spoke:

"Or what?"

"Or you will be sorry, trust me" Naylye snarled.

Saffron from District two had just confirmed all of Naylye's previous thoughts… She wanted to kill, starting with her.

Saffron glowered back at the girl from District One '_Don't worry'_ she told herself '_I'll make sure your death is nice and slow'_

**Aurora Prattle, district 3**

Aurora felt like a good place to start would be the knife station, but she saw that the tributes from 1 and 2 were over there, and the girls were already glaring at eachother, so she quicklyabandoned that idea. She walked over to the sword station instead, Aaron Bering, her district partner was there already. Aurora didn't really know him that much; he didn't speak much and never really showed emotion. Aurora arrived at the sword station just as Aaron swept the head of a dummy and the trainer was giving approving nods. Aurora picked up a small dagger and another trainer came over to her to guide her on how to use it. Aurora was a swift learner, one hour later, she knew how to swipe with the dagger and which parts of the body she should aim for.

"Remember" her trainer said "Always keep the blade away from your body and always return to this position" her trainer taught her "You want to aim for the head, throat or torso. They are the places which will down your opponent. Stabbing them in the arm or leg is very well, but it won't kill them" 

It turned out that both tributes from three were skilled with swords, just different types. Aaron preferred his huge ancient Japanese sword, which he could never remember the name for. And Aurora was finding her daggers rather handy and easy to use.

After about two hours, the trainers left the tributes to practise on there own, despite being from the same district, the two tributes never spoke, only acknowledged eachother and nodded their head in applause when the other had done well with their weapon. Aaron liked the silence, but Aurora felt a little uncomfortable. She didn't want them to kick off a conversation and become best friends, but she felt like she should at least _try_ to get to know her partner.

"Hi, Aaron"

Aaron sighed heavily, turned to look at her and nodded his head, his eyes hard.

Aurora didn't speak to him after that.

**Ave Cress, district 5**

Little Ave had just left the shelter station after learning all about what kind of substances are waterproof and which ones would be useful for a shelter. Hmm, where should she go next? She could join Orion at the axe station, but maybe not. But she needed to meet some of the other tributes. She needed allies.

Ave had no interest in using any kind of weapon besides… Oh! Now she knew where to go. Ave wandered around trying to find the poisonous plant station, after ten minutes she asked a trainer who pointed to her right and patted Ave on the head. Ave smiled and said thanked her. Wow, this whole cute thing was working well for Ave. Yesterday her mentor had told her how popular she was in the Parade when the audience all started babying her. Ave found the plant station no problem after that. But she stopped when she got there. The pale, black-haired girl from 11 was there looking furious with the trainer. Perhaps… perhaps this girl from 11 might be interested in an alliance? Ave knew she needed have an ally; she wasn't a very good physical fighter, the girl from 11 looked strong.

'_Make alliances. It's better to have someone rather than no one'_ Ave remembered her mentor's words from the previous day.

Ave shrugged and twirled over to the station where the male instructor was rubbing his temples.

"Come on, I just told you what Yew is, now _what is it?_"

"I don't know!" Kitty bellowed.

"Isn't Yew the berry with deadly seeds that grows on evergreen and shrubs?" Ave said suddenly appearing next to the district 11 female.

The man looked impressed "Yes, well done, young one"

"You could use it to poison another tribute" Ave said proudly. That was Ave's chosen weapon- poison.

The instructor nodded his head approvingly a smile creeping on his lips.

Ave beamed "Yew" she muttered, it's such a strange word.

"Yew, Yew, Yew" she sang.

Kitty was furious; she had just been shown up by a _twelve year old_! She despises children, she wouldn't let this go. She turned to Ave:

"Listen, you" she spat at the little girl with pigtails.

"Yew!" Ave burst into laughter.

Kitty hissed under her breath. That's what she loathed about small children, they find everything funny and take nothing seriously, well, this child was about to get a kick out of life.

"Listen, five" Kitty corrected herself "If you come near me again I will kill you. If you even look at me again I will kill you. I don't care if it's in the arena, or five minutes from now; I will _end_ you" Kitty glowered at Ave through cold eyes for a long moment.

"But I was-" Ave began

"I don't care what you were trying to do. Stay away from me if you want to live" Kitty snarled and then smiled cruelly and stormed away from the plant station.

Ave made a funny noise and her eyes filled with tears, her heart was hammering against her chest and her palms were sweaty. Ave knew that she was going to die but she had never been threatened like _that_ before. A tear dribbled down Ave's pretty face but she wiped it away quickly, not wanting anyone to see.

**What did you think of the first day? Quite a lot of drama, I know, but hey- you guys like that don't you? What did you think of Naylye turning into a evil ruthless Career? Please leave a comment! :) **


	16. Training Day 2

**Amber Henson, district 7**

Amber was woken again by her escort, Clementine Jarvis, banging on her door announcing it was the second day of training. Amber sighed and shuffled into the bathroom to take a shower but hesitated when she remembered how confusing they are to use. Yesterday she had taken one and there were thirty different water pressures and over fifty different soaps and oils she could soak in. Amber decided to just wash her face in the sink, like she did at home. She remembered how she would have to hold Poppy up to wash her hands because she was too small to reach the sink…

"Come _along_, Amber!" Clementine moaned.

Amber half ran out the room. Secretly, she was scared to death by these Capitol people. At the breakfast table she found her mentor, Johanna Mason, and her district partner, Damien.

"You ready for another day of training?" Johanna asked as she thumped her favourite tribute on the back.

"I guess" Amber replied shyly "Any advice?"

"Just do what you did yesterday" Johanna shrugged "Learn as much as possible and try and make alliances… I wouldn't recommend _some_ people" She made a face and titled her head towards Damien who was pretending not to hear. Amber's face fell, so did this mean Johanna had already given up on Damien? Did she just assume that he would be another victim of the Hunger Games, no big deal? This was partly good, all of Johanna's attention would be focused on her now, but Amber couldn't help but think… _Poor Damien. _

"Excuse me" Damien stood up suddenly "I'm going to freshen up before training"

As soon as Damien was out of site, Clementine spoke to Johanna:

"Johanna, that really wasn't necessary. It's not the spirit of the games!"

Johanna merely shrugged "I'm sorry but he's a weakling"

"Just like you were?"

Johanna's eyes narrowed at the Capitol woman. "No. I was _pretending,_ and look where it got me. I won" she spat.

"But maybe he is just trying to copy you, maybe he's pretending too" Clementine breathed.

Johanna shook her head fiercely "If he was he would have said; that boy is just a weakling. I saw him train yesterday and he was terrible at nearly every station. I hate to say it but he won't make it one day in the arena. I'm just saying what we're all thinking"

**Josef Mono, district 10.**

Josef walked in to the training centre with Lilee following close behind. God. He wished she would stop_ following_ him. Yesterday she had been like a second shadow and it was rather uncomfortable having the same person with you every minute of the day. Sure, they could train together if she wanted but she never swayed far from him. He was always in her sight and it was really beginning to irritate him. Josef had made it very clear that he didn't want allies and yet she continues to cling to him. Ugh. Josef quickly made his way to the spear station, without looking back. He heard a soft sigh from behind him then caught a glimpse of Lilee walking towards the shelter station where the district four tributes were. Josef bit his lip, he didn't intentionally mean to be mean to Lilee, but isn't it best that he gets rid of her now instead of hurting her in the arena? Josef wouldn't like to hurt Lilee but he would if he had to, anyone would…

A couple of hours later, Josef learned that he really enjoyed throwing spears. He was quite talented at it and he hit the board almost every time. Maybe, just maybe this recently discovered talent could help him win, that was Josef's intention after all. He wasn't going to break down and sob and feel sorry for himself, no, he was going to fight. He wanted to go home a victor. A few moments later the hard faced boy from 11 appeared next to Josef, Josef believed his name to be Gavin. The 11 boy flapped the trainer away and, with a swift movement of his foot, launched the spear up into his hand and hurled it forward. The spear found a place in the centre of the target- bored. Gavin smirked at Josef and then continued to throw spears, showing off. Josef cursed under his breath and gave him a sour look. Gavin's eyes narrowed as he examined the blonde boy and then studied his pointed silver spear.

"Can you do anything with that spear, ten?"

"Yeh. I can actually, can you?" Josef tossed back.

"Why don't we have look and see?" Gavin grinded his teeth together and then smiled.

Gavin went first, throwing his spear with such force that it hit the bullseye with a low thud. Gavin smirked and then turned to Josef. Josef hesitated, he wasn't half as good as this pale, muscular volunteer, but he was making his blood boil! Josef had never turned down a challenge, and he wasn't about to start. Josef grabbed the spear next to him and aimed it at the target-board. He took a long breath and concentrated, he was _good_ at this. Just as soon as the spear was going to leave Josef's hand, Gavin coughed very loudly, so loudly that it echoed through the training centre and all the other tributes turned to stare. The sudden noise startled Josef, and the spear flew out of his hand at hurtled downwards, missing the training board by a metre and piercing the floor instead.

"Yeh. You might wanna work on that, ten" Gavin gloated, then flounced away.

_What an asshole. _

Not only has this Gavin embarrassed Josef by loosing the spear-throwing competition, but he has also humiliated him in front of the other tributes! Josef could already hear the Careers sniggering at him! He hissed in frustration.

Lilee was gawping over at the spear station, wait, that wasn't fair! She had seen the whole thing! Gavin had distracted Josef so he missed! That couldn't be right. Opposite from her were the tributes from district four, they seemed nice enough, though they didn't really speak to her. The good looking boy was frowning at the boy from 11 and the blonde, quite girl just shrugged and continued pushing leaves over a branch to form a shelter. Lilee felt like she should go over to Josef and make sure that he was alright, but she stopped herself. For some reason, she thought that Josef didn't like having her around- she didn't know why, but it felt like a gut instinct. A nearby conversation interrupted Lilee's thoughts; she turned around and saw the district four tributes having what looked like a disagreement:

"Carmina, please" the boy practically begged "I really want to be in with them"

"I do too, Harvey. But we can't just waltz over their and declare ourselves a part of their pack! Look at them, they look hard to impress" both of their gazes fell onto the tributes from 1 and 2, they were at the sword station.

"No, but we can go over there and show them what we can do- come on Car, lets try this"

"Okay"

Oh, now Lilee understood. They were trying to get in with the Career pack. Lilee glanced over to the sword station at the two boys and two girls and the very thought of being near them made her shudder.

**Livia Phoenix, district 8 **

Livia gulped as she walked over to the knife station. Chale preferred to use a trident so this was the first station that she had attended alone. The only other person at the knife station was the boy from District six; he was usually smiling so Livia wasn't particularly scared of him, as she was most tributes. When she arrived, a trainer greeted her then started teaching her the steps for a basic throw. Livia listened carefully, when it was time to throw- she took a deep breath, aimed at the plastic dummy, and released the knife from her clutches. The knife whizzed through the air and wedged itself into the dummy's heart. The trainer smiled and congratulated Lilee on her very first throw. Wow, that was the first time she had thrown a knife… ever. _That was so easy!_ She thought to herself. Lilee picked up another knife and threw it again, harder. The knife found a home in the dummy's throat this time. She heard a few gasps from behind her; she suspiciously turned around and found the tributes from 1 and 2, looking at her in astonishment. Livia started thinking fast. She grabbed another knife and threw it so hard and carelessly that it wedged itself in the wall behind the dummy. She did this about three times, deliberately throwing knives so they would miss the dummy and making sure that the Career's were watching her the whole time. When there were no more knives to throw, Livia turned around again, to find the Careers laughing and mocking her. _Good_ she thought. She didn't want to be a target of theirs. She needed to hide her strengths. The dark-skinned trainer stared at her, looking impressed as if to say _you're a smart one._ Livia smiled at her.

Chale came over then, and scowled at the Career group, therefore gaining a death glare from the District one boy.

"Are you okay, Livia?" Chale asked kindly.

"Yeh, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Chale gestured towards the Careers "Just thought that you were letting some dickheads get to you"

"No, no. I'm fine" Livia smiled.

Hm. Chale… Should Livia tell him that she had a talent with knives? No. Better to tell no-one until they see for themselves. Best to act like a weakling so no-one would target her.

"Livia, no offence or anything- but I think we need more allies. I mean your great, but wouldn't you rather be part of a bigger alliance if you could?" Chale spoke quickly and quietly, eyeing the large Career alliance.

"I agree" Livia said "But who would join us?"

As Livia spoke, an arrow soared through the air and wedged itself into the throat of a plastic dummy. Curiously, Livia's eyes searched for the person responsible for shooting such a brilliant arrow, and her eyes fell upon Brecon, the district nine boy. He was at the archery station, which was just next to the knife station. He was grinning at the instructor who was praising him gleefully, gesturing at the amazing shot. Standing next to him was a short girl with olive skin and brown hair, neither Chale nor Livia knew her name but they guessed she was his district partner.

"I want _him_" Livia whispered.

"Let's go see if he's interested" Chale breathed.

Brecon saw the tributes from eight approach him; they looked peaceful although the blonde girl looked a little timid. Brecon recognized them, he didn't know their names but he remembered that they had made quite an impression at the tribute parade.

"Hello" the tall dark boy said.

"Hi" Brecon replied causally, he glanced behind himself to look at Runa, his district partner and ally. She was emotionless, but her eyebrows were pulling together in confusion.

"We saw you shoot" the District 8 boy spoke again "My district partner and I were wondering if you would consider being allies with us in the arena. We would make a pretty good alliance; the four of us could be quite strong put together"

A long moment passed as Brecon considered the boy's offer. He knew he didn't need to consult with Runa; she would be with him whatever his decision. Instead of answering his question, Brecon simply asked:

"What are your names?"

"I'm Chale, and this is Livia" he spoke back "and what is yours?" Chale spoke to Runa only; he already knew who Brecon was.

Runa glanced at Brecon, as if looking for permission to speak. Despite being a year younger, Brecon was clearly the leader of the two.

"My name is Runa, and this is Brecon" the girl said shyly, directing the conversation back to her district partner.

"So, Brecon and Runa" Chale spoke "will you accept our offer?"

Brecon and Runa locked eyes for a short moment and then Brecon grinned and said:

"Yes"

**Wren Merritt, district 6 **

Wren sighed as he wandered over to the first-aid station. Why were all the peacekeepers giving him dirty looks? Have the peacekeepers from his district contacted them about how mischievous he is? Told them to give him a hard time? He hoped not. Wouldn't that be against the rules?

Wren tried to forget about it as he approached the first-aid station. After spending all morning at the knife station, Wren decided that it would be useful to know something about healing. He arrived at the first-aid station to find only one other tribute there. It was the girl from seven; wasn't her name Ambelle or something? Wren was hopeless with names. Nevertheless he plonked himself down next to her and smiled at her all the same. The young blonde smiled back shyly and Wren was shocked. _Well that's a first!_ He thought. No one had smiled at him since the day he entered the godforsaken training centre, unless you count the smirks and sniggers that the Careers gave out freely, which Wren didn't.

After Wren had mastered to tie the perfect bandage and learned which leafs could absorb the most blood, the trainer gave them the task of creating a sling out of bandages, then left them too it.

The girl from district seven had her sling ready in a matter of minutes, whilst Wren, on the other hand, could easily be mistaken for an ancient mummy. He had bandages all around his neck and even one loose strand was wrapped around his head; Wren was trying to find the end of the bandage and had no idea how funny he looked. Amber couldn't help but giggle.

"Did you need some help?" she offered kindly

Wren looked at her and grinned his signature smile "Oh, I thought I was doing it right" he joked.

Amber laughed lightly and untangled the bandages from Wren's head and neck and taught him how to make a proper sling. It took him a while to get it, but finally, his sling was identical to Amber's.

"Wow, your really good at this" Wren admired.

"Thank you" Amber blushed "I'm Amber"

_Oh right, Amber._ Wren thought _I knew that._

"Wren" he smiled at her.

"You're from six, aren't you?" Amber asked curiously.

"That's right. And you're from seven?"

"Yes. I am"

"I'd shake your hand, but it's wrapped to my chest"

"Hmm, I seem to have the same problem" Amber chuckled.

The two tributes laughed lightly for a long moment and then Wren said:

"Amber, do you have any allies yet?"

Amber's face lit up a little: "No, I don't. Do- do you?"

"Nope" Wren popped his lip.

"Allies?" they both asked at exactly the same time then burst out laughing. They both nodded their heads and then took their hands out of the slings to finally shake hands, confirming the alliance.

**Orion Bailey, district five. **

Orion had been watching the district four tributes training with the Careers for about an hour now; he guessed that they were in the pack. Great. _Six _Careers to look out for, unless some of them died at the bloodbath, but they rarely did. It was only the second day and it looked like some of the other tributes had made alliances as well. Both from Eight and Nine were in an alliance of four. And just a moment ago Orion had seen the boy from six and the girl from seven shake hands. That one was a pretty odd alliance, the boy was eighteen and the girl was only around thirteen, but hey, who was he to judge?

Just then, Orion saw Ave, dancing over to the snare station where the district six girl was. Orion moved forward a little and watched the two girls as they began to speak:

"Hello" Ave said shyly, after the encounter with Kitty, Ave had become a little quite- but that did not quench her desperate thirst to find allies.

"Hello" the girl from six replied gently as she positioned the fibre wire to make her first snare.

Ave gulped, she wasn't good at starting conversations, especially with people who seemed to be naturally shy. Ave's face fell and she admitted to herself that she would never find allies that wanted her. There was no way she could possibly fit in with her Careers, although the pair from four seemed nice enough. It seems that Orion had already given up all hope and most of the other lower districts had found alliances. What Ave would give to be a part of an alliance that would protect her… No- not even that. Just someone…just someone she could trust.

"Do you need any help with that" The six girl offered; interrupting Ave's thoughts.

Ave peered around her to see that her snare was already made and it looked pretty darn good too.

"Yes, please" Ave sniffed "I don't know where the trainer could have got too"

"Can't trust anyone these days" Glenys chuckled "I'm Glenys, but everybody calls me Glen"

"Hello, I'm Ave"

"I know, you're the girl with the pigtails" Glen chuckled

"What?" Ave questioned.

Glenys shrugged "It's a nickname that the Capitol seemed to have given you. It seems to me that everyone completely adored your hair-style at the tribute parade. Pigtails"

"Oh"

"It's good" Glen smiled "It will get you remembered for sponsors"

"Good" the twelve year-old breathed.

Just then, Kitty, the girl from 11, walked past the snare station and Ave ducked her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

'_If you come near me again I will kill you. If you even look at me again I will kill you. I don't care if it's in the arena, or five minutes from now; I will end you'-_ Kitty's words replayed in Ave's head.

Ave's wild imagination imagined the un-countable possible ways that Kitty could _end_ her… how anyone could put an end to her life…

"Ave?" A voice sounded from what seemed like ten miles away.

"Ave?" someone patted her shoulder.

Ave snapped back to reality with an anxious Glenys greeting her "What's wrong, Ave?"

"It's just that, that 11 girl threatened me the other day. It just freaked me out that's all" she blubbered.

Glenys's eyes narrowed at the district 11 girl who was playing at the axe station "She won't touch you" Glen mumbled as she swept a hand through her short black bob.

"But she-" Ave started.

"Don't worry Ave" Glenys interrupted "I'll protect you for as long as I can"

"Like…like allies?" Ave whispered.

"Yes, if you'd like" the seventeen year old returned softly.

Ave resisted the urge to throw her arms around Glenys and jump for joy. An _Ally_. A protector. A friend? No- not a friend, but an _ally_!

"I'd love to be allies" Ave beamed "I can do quite a lot. I'm good with berries and I'm fast and-"

"You don't need to prove yourself to me, Ave" Glen chuckled "We'll be equal allies and have eachother backs"

"Okay" she beamed.

Neither of them wanted to mention that this arrangement could only be temporary.

**R&R pleeeeease :) **


	17. Training Day 3

**A/N: Hi guys, thank you so much for your lovely reviews, they make me smile :)**

**And yes, shakakid, you are the 100th reviewer. Thank you :3 **

**Runa Pavlich, district 9**

_Last day of training _Runa thought to herself as she and Brecon whizzed down to the Training Centre in the glass elevator. _Last day of training and still no idea what to show the Gamemakers. _

"So, did you want to do anything specific today?" Brecon asked cheerfully.

"Survival" Runa replied quickly, they both stepped out of the lift and walked into the training centre.

"Okay" Brecon smiled.

In the training centre, the district nine tributes were greeted by their allies, Chale and Livia from eight who were at the fire-making station. Behind them was a lurking figure, Runa strained her eyes to see who it was.

"Hello, Brecon" Livia smiled at Brecon "Runa" she nodded her head at Runa.

"Hi, Livia" Brecon replied. "Who's this?" he questioned, nodding at the figure behind them. Runa was glad he asked, she wanted to know too.

"Another ally to consider" Chale said slowly as he exchanged a glance with Livia. Whoever this person was it was clear that Chale and Livia both wanted them but felt the need to consult with their current allies first.

"Well let them come forward" Brecon spoke clearly.

The dark haired girl from district twelve appeared between Chale and Livia and nodded her head at Brecon, ignoring Runa altogether.

"So, what makes you worthy of being in our alliance, Maya?" Brecon teased.

"It appears that your current allies seem to think that I have a gift" she shrugged "Plus I need an alliance and my district partner is completely _hopeless_"

"A gift?" Brecon looked confused as if he was expecting a wrapped birthday present to appear. "Explain"

"Maya can identify any kind of trap or snare without entering its target range" Livia broke in "For example, if we saw something unfamiliar Maya would be able to tell us what it is without putting anyone in danger, her eyesight is simply outstanding"

"Is that it?" Runa snorted, speaking for the first time "You can tell a net from a snare?"

Maya's eyes narrowed at the district nine girl but she said nothing. It wasn't her opinion that mattered, it was Brecon's.

Brecon was tapping his fingers against his chin obviously deep in thought; after a short minute he said:

"I think it could be useful, and even if we don't come across any nets or snares, she can still be of use if we run into other tributes. So I say yes, join us if you will, Maya. But may I suggest that this is the last tribute that this alliance accepts? We don't want this alliance to get _too_ big"

The alliance of five nodded, and then set to work on the fire-starting station.

**Harvey Norden, district 4**

The Careers were at the spear station, just chucking spears around to kill time. It turned out that Harvey wasn't bad at it, nor was the girl from two, Saffron. But the boy from two was the real star. He could throw spears so hard and fast that every time the spear connected with the target board, you could always hear a low thud and the whole target board would wobble slightly.

"So who should we target at the Cornucopia then"? Naylye asked as she smirked at Saffron, who returned a glare.

"Anyone really" Jaden shrugged "Just get as many as possible then we'll hunt the rest down later" he shrugged.

Acron returned from throwing his final spear and spoke "I _think_ she meant, who is a threat to us?"

"The boy from eleven" Harvey spoke immediately "He's massive"

Acron nodded in agreement, Gavin was a monster. He had to die.

"What about them?" Carmina spoke, nodding to the fire-making station where a group of five, consisting of both tributes from eight and nine, and the girl from twelve were training.

"They're weak" Jaden snorted.

Carmina raised her eyebrows "What I _meant_ is, look how big their alliance is. It's almost as big as ours. Numbers make a difference. Besides, did you see the district nine boy shoot the other day? Or the district eight boy use his trident? We shouldn't underestimate them"

Jaden narrowed his eyes at the alliance at the fire-making station "Smart girl" he murmured at Carmina who smiled in response.

"Well let's just kill them too then" Naylye rolled her eyes.

"Aim for eight" Acron butted in "They're the best fighters"

"No" Jaden snapped "Nine look more of a threat, make nine your targets everybody"

Acron titled his head like a confused puppy, did he hear right? Did someone just ignore and try to over power him?

"Eight" he spat at the boy from district one.

"Don't mess with me, two" Jaden barked "Nine."

Of corse this wasn't an argument of who to target at the Cornucopia, no, that didn't matter anymore. This was an argument to see who had the most power, and who would back down first. In a way, this is the decision of who would lead the Careers; all Jaden and Acron needed was an excuse to fight to see who could win it, therefore winning the right to lead the pack. Harvey was kind of curious on whom it would be, both boys from one and two would both be good leaders, but they were both as stubborn as eachother. Neither of them would back down in a hurry, so who would claim being leader of the Careers?

Their voices started to rise and Harvey thought it would be best to get out of target range, just incase a fight broke out. He turned to Carmina but she was already gone. He glanced around for her and found she was only a couple of feet away, practising spear throwing, herself; Harvey walked over to her quickly.

"Hey, Car"

"Hello" she sang happily.

"You any good at throwing spears?"

"Not really" Carmina sighed "I just wanted to put some distance between myself and the idiots" she jerked her chin towards Acron and Jaden; peacekeepers were eyeing them by now- ready to break up a fight if one commenced.

"Yeah. You can tell that this alliance isn't going to be a very strong one. I mean Naylye and Saffron already want to slaughter one another and now Jaden and Acron are at each other's throats" Harvey rolled his blue-grey eyes "I think you're the only sane person that's in this alliance"

Carmina laughed lightly "I'll take that as a compliment"

"I meant it as one" Harvey winked. Carmina felt her cheeks get hot.

Suddenly a scream of a snarl pierced the training centre and the sound of Peacekeepers marching ringed in Harvey's ears. Harvey and Carmina turned around just in time to see that Jaden had Acron in a headlock and Acron was cussing furiously and trying to break his hold.

All the tributes in the centre turned too catch a glimpse of what was happening, but then the white uniforms of Peacekeepers took over the scene. After a long minute the Peacekeepers retreated slowly, glaring at the tributes as they did.

"Well I guess we know who the leader of our alliance is" Carmina breathed, her gaze locked on Jaden's smirking face, he had won the fight. He was the leader and now everybody knew it. Acron was a few rows away from the pair from four, throwing spears violently at a dummy, a deep frown plastered on his face. Saffron approached him cautiously, her face looking gentle yet stern. However Acron just dismissed her by merely flapping his hand.

"Do you want me to teach you how to throw spears?" Harvey offered to his District partner.

Carmina bit her lip and muttered "I don't think I'll be very good at it- honestly, I prefer my daggers"

"So do I" Harvey shrugged "but it would be useful to know all the same, right?"

Carmina grinned "Right. How do I start?"

"Well, you might want to pick up a spear… that would be a good start"

Carmina rolled her eyes and grabbed a spear.

"Turn your body ninety degrees away from the dummy and keep your feet about shoulder-length apart and keep your knee's bent" Carmina followed Harvey's instructions quietly and quickly, never asking any questions.

"Now get a good aim before you throw. When you _do_ throw, unbend your knees, twist forward with your hips, and launch the spear forward at the same time. You should feel your throwing shoulder drop and your opposite had go out behind you. Make sure to let go of the spear while it is parallel to the ground" Harvey said quickly. Carmina absorbed every word and she took a deep breath as she aimed for the centre of the dummy. And with one swift throw, the spear soared threw the air and found a home in the dummy's torso.

Carmina's eyes widened and a smile spread across Harvey's lips. "See? You _can_ do it" he praised.

"I think you're just a good teacher" Carmina replied with a smile.

"Do it again" Harvey said.

Carmina and Harvey both reached for the same spear at the same time and their hands met in the middle. When their skin contacted, Carmina felt that spark again- the same one she had felt at the reapings when they had shook hands. Harvey was experimenting the same feeling, and before he could stop himself, he absentmindedly took her hand and began to play with her fingers. When he realized what he was doing, he dropped her hand immediately and a lump built in his throat. But when he did, both of them felt somewhat empty.

**Damien Tifton, district 7 **

"I'm sorry, seven, but I don't quite think that a sword is the weapon for you. Have you considered axes?" The sword trainer said slowly.

Damien had been at the sword station for _two hours_ and he was still no good at it. He felt like weeping. He was so utterly hopeless at training that he didn't see the point in it anymore. He couldn't use any kind of weapon and the only thing he knew about survival was edible berries. His mentor had clearly given up on him, Johanna obviously preferred Amber to him. Amber was smart and pretty. Damien? Well, he was never one for school and his face was so scrawny that he hated looking in the mirror. Why couldn't he be good looking like the boys from four or six? Or why couldn't he be strong like the Career tributes? Damien looked around the training centre and wondered who would be the tribute to kill him. Damien had a good feeling it was going to be a Career tribute, but hey, maybe it would be someone else. Maybe it would be the district nine boy, he had excellent shot with his bow. Or maybe it would be the district three girl, Damien saw her do the assault-corse, she could climb and jump like a monkey; she could easily attack him from above. Whoever it was, Damien could only hope that they did it fast. His parents probably wouldn't care who did it, or how it was done. His parents didn't care about him; no one was waiting for him back home. Damien traced the fading bruise that was still lurking on his cheek. And then the tears over-lapped his eyes.

**Wren Merritt, district 6 **

"Where shall we spend our last hour of training?" Amber asked Wren.

"Well, have you been to _every _station?" Wren asked "because I think I have"

"I haven't been to the knot station" Amber muttered.

"Then let's go" Wren smiled.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel that you're wasting your last hour on something you've already done-"

"Amber, it's fine" Wren reassured his ally "Let's go"

The two arrived at the knot station; they were the only two there- the other tributes were probably doing their last minute training with weapons. The trainer was delighted to have tributes, Amber didn't think that many people would've visited the knot-tying station; Wren doubted the Careers even knew there _was_ a knot station.

The trainer set the two working on basic knots that could come in handy in everyday situations. A few minutes passed, and Amber saw an alliance of five, wandering over to the camouflage station. Their alliance looked strong, both from eight and nine and another girl whom Amber didn't recognise. Amber started to panic.

"Amber? You okay?" Wren asked softly

"Me? Oh yeh, corse" Amber mumbled.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost" Wren said uneasily.

"I'm fine"

Wren dropped his rope and took Amber's hand, she hesitated but she did not pull away. "You're scared" he spoke softly. It was not a question or a conversation starter; just the fact of the matter.

"So are you" Amber replied, Wren nodded.

"Amber, did you ever think of expanding our alliance?" Wren asked suddenly.

Amber thought for a moment "Erm, not really, did you-" Amber's face fell "did you want someone else, besides me?"

"Not particularly" Wren shrugged "but I was just thinking, what if something happened to one of us at the Cornucopia? The other would be left alone in the arena." A long moment passed as the two tributes pondered on the thought of fighting alone. "I don't want to be on my own" Amber whispered through her teeth, suddenly scared stricken of the idea.

"I know you don't" Wren squeezed her hand "that's why I thought you might need someone else, incase something happens to me. I want to make sure you are taken care of. I would hate the idea of you being all alone in there" Wren locked eyes with the thirteen year old. "Let's see, who could join us? The boy from three? The girl from-"

"Wren" Amber interrupted. "I have an easier solution"

"Yes?"

"Let's just not die at the Cornucopia, silly" Amber cooed.

Wren face palmed his head "Oh, why didn't I think of that?" he teased, then his face was serious "Amber, they're essential supplies that the Cornucopia has to offer. I would hate us to leave there empty handed."

"We could just work together" Amber shrugged "Are you a fast runner?"

Wren flashed his teeth "After six years of running away from peacekeepers, damn straight I'm a fast runner"

"Well then, let's just run in, run out, run away. Simple enough?"

Wren sighed calmly and picked up his rope from the floor "You got it boss"

Neither of them wanted to mention that it would be much more complex than that.

**Private Sessions are next! :D **


	18. Private sessions 1 to 6

Twenty four tributes were all sat in a room behind the training centre, waiting for the first name to be called. The sessions would start with the district 1 female and finish with the district 12 male. The Careers were all smirking to themselves and glaring at the other tributes who just stared at the floor, pretending not to see.

"Naylye Joss" a robotic voice commanded from nowhere. The redhead rose from her chair and walked into the training centre.

* * *

**Naylye Joss**

Naylye entered the training centre confidently. It was weird to see it completely empty, besides from the peacekeepers, trainers and Gamemakers. The Gamemakers were peering curiously down at Naylye, waiting for her to start. Without hesitation Naylye headed to the knife station, she was _good_ at this. She picked up three knifes and took a deep breath. She could feel every pair of eyes on her and her palms became sweaty, but that did not stop the first knife finding a home just outside the bullseye. The second followed soon after, that one hit the bullseye! Naylye smirked to herself and threw her final knife. It too, like the one before, landed directly in bullseye. "Enough" Seneca Crane's voice spoke. Naylye turned to the Gamemakers, bowed her head- then strode out of the training centre, a smug smile painted on her face.

* * *

**Jaden Mordeen**

When Jaden's name was called he was up like a lightning bolt, he knew _exactly_ what he was going to show the Gamemakers, and couldn't wait to get started. He knew he was going to do brilliantly, he was the leader of the Careers and he needed a high score to show everybody that he came to win and _will _win. He confidently walked into the training centre and speed walked to the knife station. Jaden positioned himself in front of three dummies and picked up half a dozen knifes. In a matter of seconds, all six knifes had found a place in a dummies' head, throat or torso. Jaden glanced up to the Gamemakers and they were all nodding their heads in approval but he wasn't done yet. He paced over to the sword station and grabbed a double-edged sword, thin and sharp as a razor and his head snapped up at a trainer. "Fight me" he sniggered, holding a sword out to the male trainer. The man took it and the two started fencing rather aggressively. A few moments passed and then, just as Jaden was about to floor his opponent Seneca Crane said "Enough." Jaden was irritated that he had not been able to finish and tossed his sword to the trainer then walked out of the training centre.

* * *

**Saffron Clawford**

Saffron walked into the training centre with her head held high. _I can do this. I can. I am good at this _she told herself concurrently. One thing was for sure, she _had_ to get a higher score than Naylye. Ugh, that girl made her blood boil. Saffron entered the centre and grabbed a small yet deadly dagger and stood a couple of extra feet away from her target. She took a deep breath and released the knife from her clutches. The dagger caught the dummy near its left ear. _Shit,_ Saffron thought to herself, but then she looked more closely to wear her dagger had landed. The dagger had landed exactly in the dummy's left temple- that would surely kill a person, right? Saffron dared a glance at the Gamemakers to see that they were all looking at her with interest. So, once again, unintended aim made her look better than she is. Good. Saffron knew she had a little more time left so she walked directly towards the dummy, took her dagger out of its temple and stepped back a few paces. Then, after a deep breath, she half ran to the dummy and fly-kicked the dummys' head. Saffron was mentally thanking her three brothers for all those years of play-fighting. She had picked up some valuable skills. The kick was so violent that the dummy bent backwards on its metal pole but Saffron was ready for the rebound. When the spring-loaded dummy bounced back towards her Saffron dug her dagger deeply into its throat and tore out a huge chunk. "Enough" Seneca Crane's voice echoed throughout the training centre. Saffron turned to smile at the Gamemakers then danced out of the training centre, very pleased.

* * *

**Acron Fisica **

Acron walked into the training centre, impatient to begin. Acron was _desperate_ to get a higher score than Jaden, he was still mad at that dickhead for putting him in a headlock. Even the thought of it made him cringe with anger. He stormed into the training centre and quickly began chucking spears at dummies; the spears hit different dummies every time. After about five dummies were destroyed Seneca Crane's voice boomed "Enough" Acron ignored him and he grabbed a sword and began swiping the heads clean off of all the remaining dummies "Enough I say!" Seneca sat up in his chair and shouted into the centre. After most of the dummies were completely demolished, Acron stopped, bowed his head once and fought a snigger as he walked out of the training centre.

* * *

**Aurora Prattle**

Aurora was waiting in her chair patiently. Why had the district two boy taken so long? Had he smashed up the entire training centre? Knowing Acron, he probably had. After ten more long minutes, the robotic voice commanded Aurora's name. The brunette rose from her chair and calmly walked into the training centre, fidgeting with her fingers. She was delighted to see that the Gamemakers still looked interested, normally they didn't pay much attention to the district three tributes. Aurora walked over to the climbing walls and began hoisting herself up, climbing quietly and quickly which was a skill learnt from home. When she was at the top, she paused a moment to catch her breath and then she did something unexpected. She jumped. She must have been a good ten metres of the ground but she jumped anyway; she landed softly on the floor with both of her knees bent and a smile across her face.

"Enough"

* * *

**Aaron Bering **

Aaron glared at the Gamemakers as he walked into the training centre; he was still outraged that he was here, in the Capitol. Nevertheless he felt a weird need to impress the snobbish people who were perched their balcony. Aaron paced over to the sword station and picked up his favourite sword, it was slightly twisted and had Japanese carvings on the handle- he could never remember its name but that didn't really matter. He wobbled it around in his hands, remembering its weight and how to hold it. After a few moments Aaron walked up to a dummy and swiped its head clean of then sliced its torso in half.

"Enough" Seneca Crane's voice echoed throughout the training centre. Aaron narrowed his eyes at the head Gamemakers, he didn't even let him finish! Aaron cursed under his breath and then threw the sword onto the floor so hard that it echoed throughout the training centre, he cursed again then stalked out of the training centre.

* * *

**Carmina Bluerose **

Carmina smiled at the Gamemakers as she entered the training centre, she danced over to the knife station and picked up four knives. She tested their weight and then held them in-between her fingers as if they were claws. After a few seconds of handling them she threw her first knife and it hit the bullseye of the target board. Her second and third ones hit just outside the bullseye area, and then Carmina's eyes dazzled; she had an idea. She backed up a couple of steps and then did a quick yet elegant cartwheel, still holding the knife in her right hand. When she was on her feet again she threw it- the knife landed right next to the first one. Another bullseye. Carmina finished her performance with a graceful front flip and then bowed to the Gamemakers. "Enough"

* * *

**Harvey Norden**

Harvey picked up three knives and threw two of them at a dummy; they landed softly in the dummies' heart and stomach. He stole a glance at the Gamemakers and they looked impressed. Harvey decided to savour his last throw so, with his knife still in hand; he walked over to the climbing wall. He began pulling himself up, which is not easy with a sharp knife in your hand. When he was about five metres from the ground he aimed his last knife at the dummy. The Gamemakers were watching keenly, the climbing wall was quite far from the dummy that Harvey was aiming at, could he do this? Harvey threw the knife forwards, a loan moan escaping his lips as he did. The knife whizzed through the air and landed where the dummys' left eye would be. "Enough" Seneca Crane spoke. Harvey nodded his head, and instead of climbing back down the climbing wall, he did a back flip off of it. He grinned.

* * *

**Ave Cress**

Little Ave twirled into the training centre and smiled cutely at the Gamemakers, who titled their heads in response. Ave walked up to the plant station and spoke to the trainer: "Test me" The trainer nodded and held up a series of cards. Each card had a picture of a berry, plant or nut on it and it was Ave's job to identify each one. If she got the answer right, the trainer would nod once at the Gamemakers, if she got it wrong, the trainer would do nothing. Ave easily aced the plant test and then went to the fire building station. Ave had made and lit a fire in less than three minutes and the Gamemakers were raising their eyebrows at her. "Enough" Ave stood up, smiled at Seneca and then skipped out of the training centre.

* * *

**Orion Bailey**

Orion shuffled into the training centre after the robotic voice commanded his name. When he was in the middle of the floor, his mind went completely blank and he didn't know where to go or what to do. His gut told him to do survival but his brain told him to do use a weapon. A horrible minute passed and nothing happened. Silence. The Gamemakers began to whisper and snigger to each other but then Seneca coughed loudly, cueing for the boy to start. Orion blinked twice and headed for the knife station. He picked up a knife awkwardly and aimed for the target board. His knife missed the target board and clanked against the wall. The Gamemakers spluttered with laughter but Orion tried again. But this time his throw was so weak the knife seemed to only skid across the floor. "Enough" Seneca Crane chuckled.

* * *

**Glenys Cherokee **

Glenys grabbed six knives, some fibre wire and a large metal latch and spread them across the training centre floor. She felt everybody's eyes on her but she ignored them, she had to concentrate. She pulled the metal latch open and began weaving the fibre wire in and out of it. After she was finished with that, she began attaching the knives to the wire, so the blades were pointing inwards. Altogether this took her about five minutes but the Gamemakers never interrupted because they had never seen anything like this before. After all the knives were attached to the fibre wire on the open metal latch, Glenys stepped back to view her work. Then she collected a small piece of wood and threw it onto the metal trap. When the piece of wood collided with the trap, the spring-loaded latch snapped shut, imprisoning the piece of wood that was being crushed to splinters by the knives. Glenys turned to look at the Gamemakers to find that their eyebrows had been pulled together. Glenys gulped as Seneca Crane spoke: "Explain." He was rather confused on what this bizarre girl was trying to show. Glenys hesitated for a moment but then she simply shrugged and said: "Just imagine that the wood is someone's foot" Seneca raised his eyebrows at the trap and the other Gamemakers were muttering to eachother, Glenys couldn't tell if they were impressed or not. "Enough" Seneca dismissed the girl from district six.

* * *

**Wren Merritt **

Wren sighed as he walked into the training centre, but when he came into the view of the Gamemakers; he smiled his perfect smile and walked to the snare station. Wren began to build his snare and after about three minutes, he was done. The snare trainer came into view and thoroughly checked Wren's snare then she turned her head to the Gamemakers and nodded. Wren smiled to himself, _Hmm what to do next?_ Wren thought that he should show some of his strength; he strode over to the bottom corner of the training centre where five huge weights were piled on top of eachother. Wren chose the heaviness weight and walked over to where some plastic mannequins were. Wren targeted a mannequin and then threw the weight over his head and into the mannequin's face, resulting in loud crashing sounds that echoed the training centre. "Enough"

* * *

**The 7-12 private sessions will be up soon! R&R :)**


	19. Private Sessions 7 to 12

**Amber Henson**

Amber heard loud crashing sounds' coming from the training centre, hopefully that was Wren destroying a dummy or something. She hoped he did okay. _Amber Henson_ the robotic voice called, Amber rose from her chair and tried to steady her nerves. She prayed that the Gamemakers would still be interested in her; she knew that they didn't pay much attention to the lower districts. Amber walked into the training centre and was relived to see that the Gamemakers seemed vaguely interested in her. Amber shuffled over to the knife station and picked up two knifes. Amber knew that she was good at this but her nerves were really getting the better of her. Amber took a deep breath and she threw her first knife at the dummy, it caught the dummy in the left shoulder- not enough to kill someone, but it would definitely hurt. Amber took another deep breath and threw her second knife, which hit the dummy in the heart. "Enough" Amber nodded her head and padded out of the training centre, hoping she had done enough.

* * *

**Damien Tifton**

Damien was shaking like a leaf when he entered the training centre; he had _no idea_ what to do. He hoped that the Gamemakers would have lost interest by now and wouldn't notice him that much. But when Damien walked into the centre, he found all the Gamemakers paying attention to him and looking at him with eager eyes. _Crap_ Damien muttered and he felt his palms getting sweaty and his eyes pricked with tears. Before he could stop himself, he was blubbering in front of everyone. Some of the Gamemakers started to splutter with laughter, others just gawped at Damien in confusion. An awkward moment passed and the only thing that Damien did, was continue crying. "Begin" Seneca Crane barked.

"I- I can't do this!" Damien suddenly yelped and ran away from the training centre.

* * *

**Livia Phoenix **

Livia smiled pleasantly as she entered the training centre, the Gamemakers looked at her curiously. Livia was confident, _now_ was the time to show her strengths. _Now_ she could show off without the fear of Careers targeting her. She collected three daggers and stood a couple of metres away from a dummy. She took two deep breaths and stole a quick peek at the Gamemakers, just to make sure they were paying attention. When she saw most of them looking at her, she threw her daggers at the dummy. The daggers whizzed through the air, the first dagger landed in the dummys' throat, the second found a home in the dummy's left kneecap and the final dagger pierced the dummy's torso. "Enough." Livia turned and bowed, then flew out of the training centre.

* * *

**Chale Chadwick**

Chale entered the training centre with a positive attitude, and he let it show. Chale grabbed a trident and threw it at a dummy. The trident caught the dummy in the pelvis, it wouldn't be enough to kill a person, but still pretty painful. Chale turned to a trainer and passed them a sword "Try and stab me" he said. The trainer took the sword and aimed for Chale and swiped the sword, Chale dodged it gracefully. The trainer tried to aim for Chale's head but Chale ducked the swipe and attempted to do a backwards flip to avoid more attacks. It didn't go well. Chale failed to jump high enough and his body didn't want to co-operate with the flip. Chale fell face-first onto the hard cold floor. He heard muffled laughter from the Gamemakers and then somebody chuckled: "Enough"

* * *

**Runa Pavlick **

Runa found that she was biting her nails when she walked into the training centre, she stopped immediately. She saw the Gamemakers chatting away, not really paying attention to her. Runa didn't really know where to start but she found that she was on her way to the knot station. First she tied a basic overhand knot and held it up to the trainer for inspection; the trainer took the knot and checked it thoroughly and then nodded his head at the Gamemakers. Runa then paced over to the fire-making station and built a fire in a matter of seconds. Building the fire wasn't the problem, it was lighting it. No matter how many times Runa struck the match the damn thing wouldn't light. She could here the Gamemakers giggling at her and Runa sighed and abandoned her little bundle of wood and leaves. She shuffled over to the axe station and then walked up to a dummy. Runa limply raised the axe and awkwardly sliced at the dummys' hand, but the hand did not fall off. Runa had always been weak. "Enough" Seneca Crane muttered lazily.

* * *

**Brecon Tides**

Brecon strolled happily into the training centre, he was fairly confident with what he had chosen to do. Without hesitation, he went to the archery station and loaded a large silver bow with a slick metal arrow. Before he aimed he glanced up to the Gamemakers to see that only half of them seemed to be paying attention, the rest were either chatting to eachother or distracted by the enormous amount of foods that had been prepared for them. Brecon scowled but then concentrated; He drew the arrow back and took a deep breath. He aimed for the dummys' head and relaxed. A short moment passed and then Brecon released his arrow, the arrow zoomed through the air and wedged itself in the dummys' forehead, just as Brecon had intended. Brecon looked at the Gamemakers again, and saw that most of them were now looking at him keenly. Brecon smiled then drew his second arrow, he aimed and the arrow found a home in the dummys' throat. Brecon then drew his final arrow and aimed carefully for the dummys' heart. His arrow landed just there, Brecon smiled. "Enough" Brecon smiled and bowed his head at the head Gamemaker.

* * *

**Lilee Brooks**

Lilee paced into the training centre and was greeted by the sound of cheering from the Gamemakers, she glanced at them and saw that they were cracking open a bottle of champagne. Lilee tried to ignore the fact that they weren't really looking at her and walked to the sword station and chose a basic sword, and then she turned to a trainer: "Fence with me, please" Lilee politely asked the trainer, tossing him a sword. Lilee had always known how to fence, her father had taught her before he left home… She had never touched the swords when she was training with the other tributes, she didn't want to reveal her strengths. Lilee had been itching to get her hands on a sword for what seems like forever. The trainer nodded and took the sword which was identical to the one Lilee had. The two began to fight and the clanking of the swords was loud enough for the Gamemakers to stop their conversations and pay attention to the district ten girl. Lilee was doing splendidly; she managed to block all the trainers' swipes and kept her balance well.

"Enough" Seneca Crane mumbled after about two minutes.

* * *

**Josef Mono**

Josef picked up a long sleek silver spear and aimed for the target board. This time there was no stupid 11 boy to break his focus, he was _good_ at this. Before he threw his spear, he quickly looked up at the Gamemakers to see if any of them were paying attention, only around half of them were, the others were talking and laughing drunkenly. Josef shrugged and focused on his throw. He relaxed his shoulders and kept his knee's bent, just like his trainer had told him. Then, when the spear was parallel to the floor, Josef released it and the spear sore through the air and landed just next to the bullseye, Josef cussed under his breath. He anxiously glanced up at the Gamemakers, and whatever little attention he had from some of them had vanished, no one was looking. Most of the Gamemakers were cheering loudly and stuffing themselves full of food. Nevertheless Josef tried again, but this time again, the spear landed just outside the bullseye. Ugh! These stupid drunk Gamemakers were putting him off! Not even Seneca Crane was looking at him now, Josef stormed out of the training centre, without being dismissed. No one noticed.

* * *

**Kitty Plyte **

Kitty sighed and got up for her private session. She heard some jeering coming from the Gamemakers balcony, but told herself that it was nothing. She entered the training centre and instantly looked up at the Gamemakers, a good half of them were drunk and were wobbling around and spluttering with laughter. Kitty saw the head Gamemakers, Seneca Crane, peering at her with interest- he was the only person she had to impress, really. Kitty quickly walked over to the axe station and picked out a large, double headed axe. She tossed it from hand to hand, getting the feel of its weight. _This is the time to show them everything, make sure they remember you-_ Chaff's words ringed in her ears. Kitty walked up to three dummies and held her axe ready. Then, Kitty did a series of twirls and jumps, well it_ seemed_ like she was jumping but each time she was facing the dummy, she would cut it open in its head or chest. A couple of minutes later Kitty was out of breath and the three dummies were demolished. "Enough" Seneca's voice spoke. Kitty eyed him and he was looking at her curiously, stroking his funny beard.

* * *

**Gavin Patch **

Gavin walked into the training centre and instantly grabbed a heavy metal spear, not even glancing at the Gamemakers. He didn't need to; as soon as his private session started he heard whispers like: "It's the volunteer! Shh, it's the volunteer!" which all came from the balcony. Gavin smirked at himself; turns out volunteering was the best decision he had ever made. Gavin positioned himself in front of five mannequins, and with one swift movement, he launched his first spear; and it found a home in the mannequin's chest. Gavin grabbed another spear and within a matter of seconds, spear number two was wedged in another mannequin's stomach. This continued until all five spears were all stuck in all five mannequins, Gavin smirked to himself and finally turned to the Gamemakers to find them all nodding their heads in approval, even the drunk Gamemakers looked impressed. "Enough"

* * *

**Maya Lupeni **

Maya knew what she was going to show the Gamemakers- snares. They were nice and easy and Maya was skilled at making them. She walked into the training centre and straight over to the snare station. She didn't want to look at the Gamemakers; she could already hear that they were drunk. She resisted rolling her amber eyes and focused on her work. After about five minutes Maya had created three snares; she held each one out to the trainer and asked for an inspection. Each snare was perfect, and Maya knew it- as she handed the trainer her first snare the Gamemakers began to quieten, their eyes glued on the trainer who would tell them if Maya had done well. For each snare, the trainer nodded her head at the Gamemakers. "Enough"

* * *

**Lucien Damson **

Lucien had only gone to training for the first day so he was clueless on what to show the Gamemakers, maybe something like Camouflage? Ugh, he had no idea. He was delighted to see that none of the Gamemakers seemed to be paying attention to him when he walked into the training centre. Most of the Gamemakers were giggling drunkenly or chattering away, not even bothering to acknowledge him. Oh well, Lucien looked in awe at all the racks of spears, axes, knives and swords that flooded the centre's walls. He gulped down the lump in his throat and picked up a knife and awkwardly walked towards a dummy. When he arrived, he shoved the knife into the dummys' belly and stood back to admire his work. Yup. That ought to do it. Lucien slumped out of the training centre, not waiting to be dismissed.


	20. Scores

**A/N: Okay, please don't hate me if your tribute didn't get what you would've hoped. **

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" Caesar Flickerman's face appeared on the television screen, his hair dyed a rich indigo for this years' Hunger Games. "We are now coming live to the tribute's scores. For you who don't know, these scores are based on how well each tribute has done within the training centre. So without further ado, I give you the scores of the twenty four tributes for the 67th Hunger Games!"

_District 1_

Naylye Joss- 9

Jaden Mordeen- 10

_District 2_

Saffron Clawford- 10

Acron Fisica- 9

_District 3_

Aurora Prattle- 8

Aaron Bearing- 7

_District 4_

Carmina Bluerose- 9

Harvey Norden- 10

_District 5_

Ave Cress- 7

Orion Bailey- 3

_District 6_

Glenys Cherokee- 7

Wren Merritt- 8

_District 7_

Amber Henson- 7

Damien Tifton- 1

_District 8_

Livia Phoenix- 8

Chale Chadwick- 5

_District 9_

Runa Pavlick- 4

Brecon Tides- 9

_District 10_

Lilee Brooks- 8

Josef Mono- 7

_District 11_

Kitty Plyte- 8

Gavin Patch- 10

_District 12_

Maya Lupeni- 6

Lucien Damson- 2

"Thank you for watching! The live interviews will be tomorrow, don't miss it!" Caesar smiled his perfect shiny smile, and the television screen went black.


	21. Interviews 1 to 6

**A/N: Hello everyone, so here is the Caesar Flickerman show! Obviously I couldn't write out twenty four interviews, that would take forevvvver. So these are just a few glimpses of what was said in each interview, sorry if some seem longer than others :S Hope you enjoy! **

* * *

"Hello Panem!" a purple-haired Caesar Flickerman, dressed in a silver glittered tuxedo, beamed into the camera and the screaming Capitol crowds. "Welcome to the live interviews for the sixty seventh Hunger Games! I have all twenty four tributes for you right here, are you excited?" he beamed into the crowds who roared in response "Now let us begin with district one, will you all please give it up, for Naylye!"

* * *

**Naylye Joss**

Naylye felt hot as she walked out to the stage in her red strapless dress. The gown was the exact shade of her hair and it was long at the back but short at the front, showing a lot of thigh. The crowd was cheering for her so she smiled back to them as she approached Caesar.

"Ah Naylye, you look so lovely" Caesar complimented "Please, sit my dear"

The two sat down on the white satin chairs that were in the centre stage and Caesar said:

"So Naylye, are you prepared?"

"Yes, Caesar I am _very_ prepared" she winked into the audience.

"That's good. Would you mind telling us why you volunteered?" Caesar questioned.

"Well, it's an honour representing my district of corse, and I'm _definite__ly_ ready"

"I don't doubt that you are!" Caesar smiled kindly "Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?"

Naylye chuckled to herself "Now, now Caesar, that would be_ telling_" The audience giggled "All I'm saying is that you wouldn't want to run into me in the arena" her face was cold and hard now, she obviously meant what she was saying.

* * *

**Jaden Mordeen**

"Jaden! Don't you look handsome today?"

"Yes Caesar, yes I do" Jaden agreed with Caesar and he looked down at his black tuxedo with a red bow tie. "Now, Jaden you must tell us how it felt to get a ten on training?"

"It felt amazing, Caesar. But I was expecting it. It's no less than what I should have received"

"Ah yes, of corse. Did you put a lot of effort into your training?"

Jaden shrugged "Yeh I guess, but it's no big deal- I think I'm just naturally skilled with weapons"

"Well I think that's fairly obvious! Wouldn't you say so folks?" Caesar asked the audience who clapped in response.

* * *

**Saffron Clawford**

"May I congratulate you on your training score, Saffron! That's quite an achievement, you wanna tell us about it?" Caesar smiled at the district two girl.

Saffron straightened out her one-shoulder black dress and said: "Well there not much to tell, just look at the double digit next to my picture and you should figure out that I'm pretty pleased" The audience chuckled.

"Ah yes. Your father is a victor, isn't he?"

"That's right"

"And you have three brothers, don't you Saffron?"

"Yes. I do"

"What do you think your family would say about your out-standing training score?"

"Well, my eldest brother Samyal, would probably say '_There's room for improvement there'_" The audience shrieked with laughter, as did Caesar. Saffron pretended to laugh along, but under the fake smile- she was missing Samyal more than anything.

* * *

**Acron Fisica**

"May I have a round of applause for Acron!" Caesar shrieked. Acron straightened out his grey shirt and black blazer and jacket before walking out onto the stage. He waved a couple of times and grinned happily into the audience, shook Caesar's warm hand and then sat down on the comfortable white satin chair.

"Hello Acron, how are you today?"

"I'm very well, Caesar"

"Are you excited for the games?"

"How could I not be?" Acron snorted and then turned to the audience "trust me, I will make you _never_ forget these Hunger Games" The audience seemed thrilled to hear this and clapped loudly for the boy from district two.

* * *

**Aurora Prattle **

"Aurora! Your dress looks like it's to_ die_ for!" Caesar pointed at Aurora's dress which had blue, crimson and green swirls over light grey silk.

"Thank you, Ceaser" Aurora smiled gratefully as she sat down on the white satin chair.

"So, Aurora what's the biggest difference being in the Capitol, rather than being in district three?" Caesar questioned.

"Well everything here is so modern and easy to use" Aurora swept a hand through her brown curls. "It's much different from back home" she gushed.

"Do you like it here, Aurora?" Caesar smiled.

"Of corse I do, Caesar! How could I not? It's so beautiful and everybody always looks so glamorous!" Aurora lied smoothly. The audience cheered loudly for her and Caesar put his hand over his heart and said: "I'm so touched! Isn't she sweet folks?"

* * *

**Aaron Bering**

"So Aaron, what would you say your biggest advantage is?" Caesar asked eagerly.

"My strength" Aaron replied blankly as he fiddled with the sleeve of his light grey suit.

"Yes, strength does help a lot" Caesar nodded "Now; who do you think will be watching you back home?"

"My twin sister"

Caesar gasped "Oh there's two of you! How delightful!" he turned to the audience and laughed along with them.

Aaron didn't even smile; all he was thinking about was Lisa. How he hoped she would be okay if he died, hoped that she would be happy and well…

* * *

**Carmina Bluerose**

"Oh, Carmina. You look splendid! Doesn't she everyone?" Caesar asked the audience as Carmina appeared on stage. The crowd cheered loudly for her and Caesar asked: "Do we get a twirl?"

Carmina giggled and said: "Of corse Caesar, I'm so happy you like my pretty dress" Carmina was wearing a blue sparkling gown with a white bow in the middle; she spun until she was dizzy and Ceaser sat her down in the chair.

"Thank you Carmina, that was really something. Now, why did you volunteer for this years' Hunger Games?"

The question took Carmina by surprise '_Because I don't want my best friend to die_' she thought, but instead she said:

"Well I really want to prove myself to my district and family. My older siblings always got opportunities that I never got, so this is my big moment!" she lied.

* * *

**Harvey Norden**

"Please give it up, for Harvey!"

Harvey strode onto the stage wearing an unbuttoned white shirt with black trousers; he smiled into the crowd and received a number of wolf whistles from the female audience.

"Ah, I think we like you here in the Capitol, don't we?" Caesar beamed and Harvey chuckled.

"So, Harvey- rumour has it that you are the new Finnick Odair. How do you feel about that?"

Harvey blushed "Well, I don't know if I could compare myself to Finnick- but that is very good to hear" he winked.

Caeser chuckled "Now Harvey, you need to tell us. Is there a special girl back home?"

"Nope" Harvey popped his lip.

"I don't believe it for a second, look at that face everyone!" Caesar teased the screaming audience.

Harvey desperately wanted Caesar to change the topic; he didn't want to talk about girls. Great now he was thinking of Carmina. Perfect. But he kept smiling all the same; he knew the audience liked smiles.

* * *

**Ave Cress**

"So what you're saying is that your fast, you can climb tree's and your very sneaky. Is that correct my dear?"

Ave smoothed out her silver puffy dress and nodded cutely. A series of _Aww's _broke into the audience.

"That was quite an entrance you made at the tribute's parade" Caesar said "You wanna tell us about it?"

Ave hesitated then said, in an over-done little girl voice: "Well I just wanted to say hello to everybody"

The _Aww's _got louder and Ave giggled sweetly, but inside she was rolling her eyes over and over again. _God these Capitol idiots will fall for anything _Ave mentally laughed to herself. But hey, if it got her sponsors, who was she to complain?

* * *

**Orion Bailey**

Orion played with the red blazer of his tuxedo as Caesar fired question after question at him. Orion knew that Caesar Flickerman was trying to help him, but there was really no point. Who would want to sponsor him?

"Orion, you look very nice today"

"Thank you" Orion returned.

Caesar said something else that Orion didn't hear "What?" Orion questioned the host.

"I _said_, what's the biggest difference from here, to district five?" Ceaser chuckled softly.

"The food?" Orion blurted out. His hands were sweaty and his heart beat accelerated, he had no idea how to play it. But it didn't matter, he could see the audience beginning to chatter-obviously not interested in what he had to say.

* * *

**Glenys Cherokee **

Glenys was backstage waiting for her name to be called. She had seen little Ave do her interview, she did fantastically- she'll be remembered. Now the district five boy was on the huge screen above her head, he was clearly boring the audience. Caesar bid the boy farewell and then said "Now, please give it up for Glenys of district six!" Glenys took at deep breath, straightened out her ivory gown, ran her hand through her black bob and smiled as she walked out into the stage. She didn't quite know what to say- just be honest and answer the questions was all she could really do.

* * *

**Wren Merritt **

"Hello Wren, that's a nice round training score you got there" Caesar smiled at the eighteen year old wearing a bright red tuxedo.

"Thank you Caesar" Wren smiled his brilliant smile and the crowds started cheering.

"What a lovely smile you have, Wren" Caesar complemented and Wren blushed. Somewhere, in the audience people began to wolf-whistle and Wren's cheeks reddened.

"I could say the same for you" Wren winked and Caesar chuckled.

"What do you think folks?" Ceaser laughed loudly "Who has the best smile?" The audience started giggling as did Ceaser and the district six boy.


	22. Interviews 7 to 12

**Amber Henson**

Amber took a deep breath and walked out into the hot, bright stage. _Follow your strategy _Amber told herself: _You're sweet and non- threatening. You're sweet and non-threatening. Just like Johanna was. Come on Amber, the crowd already love you. You can do this. _It was true, the crowds were cheering loudly for Amber- all she had to do now was follow her strategy.

"Hello beautiful Amber" Caeser greeted her "Please, sit my dear"

"Thank you" she smiled sweetly.

"So Amber, you got a seven on training- were you happy when you found out?"

"Oh Caeser, I was very happy" Amber smiled sweetly, the crowd clapped.

* * *

**Damien Tifton**

"So Damien, are you excited for the arena?" Caeser asked the boy in the light blue shirt and white trousers.

"Yes?" Damien whispered.

"That's the sprit" Caesar smiled "Will your family be watching back home?"

"Probably not" Damien said, truthfully enough.

"Why ever not?" Caesar gawped "This is your big moment!"

"I don't think my parents really care about me" Damien sniffed.

"I'm sure that's not true" Caesar said awkwardly.

"It is" Damien mumbled.

Well. I know how to fix that" Caesar said softly "You go out there, you win this. Then they'll _have_ to like you, right folks?"

* * *

**Livia Phoenix**

"Hello, lovely Livia" Caser greeted the girl wearing an orange dress with a rose perched on her shoulder.

"Hello Ceaser" Livia smiled.

"Now, tell us. What are your strengths that you'll be using in the arena?"

"Well" Livia crossed her ankles "I am quite intelligent, I know how to get out of a crisis. I'm also a fast runner"

"Well that sounds very useful. Some tributes don't tend to use their heads in the arena" Caesar shook his head and Livia nodded, the audience laughed gleefully.

"Yeah, using your head does tend to help sometimes" Livia joked.

"I completely agree with you, my dear" Caesar chuckled.

* * *

**Chale Chadwick**

"It was lovely to hear from you"

"Thank you, Caesar"

"Give it up for, Chale!" Caesar screamed.

The audience clapped loudly and Chale smiled then wandered off-stage to find Livia, Cecilia and Reynaldo.

"That was amazing!" Reynaldo beamed at him, through layers of make-up, as soon as Chale was backstage. "The audience seem to like you a lot, you too Livia!"

Chale smiled then glanced at Cecilia and she said: "Good job Chale" and thumped him on the back.

"Thank you, do you think it was enough to get me remembered?"

"I should think so, just don't think about that now" Cecilia returned cautiously "Just concentrate on tomorrow"

* * *

**Runa Pavlick **

Runa walked onto the bright stage in a ridiculous dress that she hated. It was a strapless, pale pink dress but looked too much like a tutu. Ugh. The crowds seemed to be cheering for her, but only quietly. Some looked at her with confusion, like they didn't even recognize her. Well why should they? She had been ignored at the parade and got a hideously low training score. Runa sighed as she took Caesar's warm hand and shook it kindly.

"Hello, darling Runa"

"Hello, Caesar"

"How are you finding the Capitol?"

"Well it's very different from back home; I mean they're so many differences between the two. For one thing the food here is simply amazing and the food back home is rather…" _You're rambling, Runa_ she suddenly told herself. Runa stole a glance at the crowd and saw they were all looking confused and slightly bored.

"Tasteless" Runa finished, a lump building in her throat.

* * *

**Brecon Tides**

"You look amazing Brecon!" Caesar said to the sixteen year old dressed in a navy tux.

"Thank you Caesar, you don't look too bad yourself" Brecon winked, looking at Caesar's glittered tuxedo and indigo hair.

"Your training score was very impressive" Ceaser admired.

"Thank you" Brecon smiled at the Capitol man "It's not as easy to get a high score as it may seem"

"What's been your favourite part of being in the Capitol so far"?

"Hm, if I'm honest- probably the lamb stew" Brecon teased the audience who laughed in response.

"Ah yes, most people tend to love the food here" Caesar chuckled "Thank you for being honest with me Brecon, not many people do that"

Brecon shrugged "I'm always honest" he beamed.

* * *

**Lilee Brooks **

"Don't you look pretty, Lilee?" Caesar said to the blonde girl wearing a black one shoulder gown.

"Why thank you, Caesar" Lilee cooed.

"Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself? What are you good at?" Caesar asked.

Lilee hesitated "Well, I'm good at survival"

Caesar nodded "Yes, people should never underestimate that. Survival is the key to, well… survive!" The audience giggled.

"Yes, it does tend to have that effect" Lilee teased, the audience's giggles increased.

Caesar chuckled lightly and then said: "It's been a pleasure speaking to you my dear. Please everyone, give it up for Lilee!" Lilee smiled and then flounced off stage.

* * *

**Josef Mono**

"Josef, your looking very smart in your outfit" Caesar gestured to Josef's black suit and white tie.

"Thank you, Caesar. I'm glad you like it" Josef smiled.

"Now, Josef. Are you prepared?" Caesar asked as the two sat down.

"Absolutely!" Josef replied quickly "Despite being from district ten, I think I am one of the most prepared tributes, Caesar!"

The crowd began to look interested in the boy from district ten.

"What do you mean when you say_ 'Despite in being from district ten'? _Caesar questioned curiously.

Josef's face fell and he said: "Well, usually people don't take much notice of District Ten, and I just want to prove them wrong. We're stronger then you think" Josef knew his district would like that comment. And the crowd seemed to as well, they cheered for him loudly and he smirked.

* * *

**Kitty Plyte**

The girl from eleven had a very different outfit from the rest of the tributes, and the audience noticed it as soon as she appeared on stage. Kitty was not wearing a dress, like the other female tributes, but a thin leather black jumpsuit and high black wedgies. Caesar was the firs to notice this and said:

"What an interesting outfit, Kitty!"

"Thank you, Caesar" Kitty replied.

"Sit, please sit my dear"

"Thank you"

"Now Kitty, I _must_ know- what is it like having Chaff for a mentor?"

Kitty laughed uneasily "It's very useful. His games were quite something- even if he did lose his arm"

The crowds chuckled and Caesar said: "Yes. That was unfortunate"

* * *

**Gavin Patch**

"Here with us now, is District eleven's first ever volunteer- Gavin Patch!" Caesar explained happily as a pale muscular boy, dressed in a dark green suit and yellow shirt, and approached the stage. Gavin grinned into the crowd and they all cheered in response.

"My my my! I have never met a volunteer from eleven before!" Caesar turned to the crowd and said: "Well let's face it, who has?" and smiled gleefully and they laughed lightly. "Please sit, my boy!"

"Now, Gavin you_ must_ share- why did you volunteer?"

Gavin shrugged "Well, why not Caesar?" He grinned and the crowd cheered loudly. "I suppose I just felt ready, and I think its high time district eleven had another victor"

* * *

**Maya Lupeni **

"It's lovely to have you here Maya, you're looking lovely" Caesar complimented Maya's aquamarine gown.

"Always the charmer, Caeser" Maya smiled.

"Now, tell us a little about yourself" Caeser said curiously.

Maya's mind went blank. "Well" she started "I'm from district twelve" This seemed to amuse Caesar and the audience as they laughed loudly.

"Yes I am well aware of that" Caeser teased.

"And…and it was my birthday the day I got reaped" Maya added sadly.

"Oh dear, that was unfortunate" Caeser sympathised.

The audience looked a little saddened but after a long moment of silence they cheered the girl from district twelve and she smiled; now she was going to be remembered.

* * *

**Lucien Damson**

"What do you think of the other tributes then, Lucien?" Caeser asked the young boy dressed in a navy suit with an ivory shirt.

Lucien grunted "Well district one are too self absorbed, as usual" he said casually. The audience laughed loudly and Lucien continued:

"The pair from two are your average Careers but the pair from four are so 'good looking' that it's beginning to make my eyes hurt" The audience spluttered with laughter.

"Wow. You got some pretty strong opinions there" he chuckled uneasily.

"I better stop myself before I get nasty" Lucien spoke.

Haymitch Abernathy was amongst the audience and he had his head in his hands. He felt like screaming: _Are you an idiot? Do you know how much trouble you're getting yourself in? _But Lucien knew exactly what he was doing. Truth is, he didn't care whether he lived or died...and Haymitch knew that.

* * *

**Guess what's next! The bloodbath! :D Please leave a review!**


	23. Bloodbath

**A/N: Okay guys, here's the big moment. The bloodbath. Ahh. Right, now that we're in the arena I want to apologise in advance if your tribute does something that you did not want them too. So yeh, sorry. I want to thank each and every one of you for sticking with me so far, you've all been so supportive and your reviews mean the world to me. Right, enough rambles. You probably want to read the story now. Okay. Here it is! **

* * *

The twenty four tubes, containing the twenty four tributes were risen up from under the ground. All twenty four tributes were wearing identical clothing: A black, cotton T-shirt, army green cargo pants, a dark grey hooded jacket and two brown sturdy-looking boots.

"Ladies and Gentlemen let the sixty seventh Hunger Games begin!" Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed into the arena.

The sixty second count down started and the tributes and audience got to see the arena that the Gamemakers had spent months preparing. The tributes were in a large, green field, all facing the Cornucopia which was stuffed with weapons, containers and various sized backpacks. The arena itself seemed like it was split in half. Covering the north side of the arena was a large forest, consisting of many different types of trees, woodland creatures and insects. As you ran your eyes across the trees, you would notice that they began to shrink, and the earth covering the ground would turn dusty and pale. This was the south side of the arena, humungous rocks that looked easy to climb yet deadly to slip on. Some rocks were big, some small. Some were enclosed together, but some were spread apart and had various sized holes and caves which would be good for hiding and climbing. The rocks seemed to go on for miles and miles until you circled the arena, where the rocks seemed to have tree's growing between them, brining you back to the forest.

All the tributes were positioned on their metal plates, some looking towards the rocks, some leaning towards the trees and some perching straight forwards, ready to sprint to the Cornucopia.

_Five_

_Four_

_Three_

_Two_

_One_

The gong sounded and the tributes leaped from their podiums. About five tributes ran straight to the wilderness, not bothering with the definite bloodbath that was coming. The rest of the tributes sprinted across the field and about half a dozen tributes reached the golden horn at the same time and threw themselves at the bounty. The district one boy grabbed a large pointed knife and swiped at the district eight boy, who was on his right. The small sword sliced through the boy's torso and blood emerged quickly from his body. He dropped to his knees, dead. The district four boy was the next one to make a kill; he grabbed a small dagger and aimed it at the district nine girl who was opposite him, just arriving at the Cornucopia. He threw the knife at her chest and it tore right through her. Her head hit the grass, dead. The tributes began hacking away at eachother with the weapons then, whilst some grabbed what they needed and ran for it. The district nine boy managed to get the bow and arrows and a large backpack and then ran to join the girls from eight and twelve and the three of them disappeared into the collection of large rocks- safe for now. Other tributes weren't so lucky: the boy from five looked stricken as he grabbed a green back pack and sprinted to the forest. Only seconds later a spear wedged itself into the back of his scull and he was a goner before he had even hit the ground. The district eleven boy smirked and pulled his spear out of the boy's head, and then ran back to the Cornucopia to see that the district two girl had the district one girl in a headlock. The redhead was screaming loudly and the dark girl from two hissed something in her ear and grinned darkly. Then she slowly and _very slowly_, pulled her knife across the girl's throat. That surprised the audience; usually the tributes from 1 and 2 would work together…maybe not in this case. The district one girl gurgled and threw up a fountain of blood and then dropped to the grass, her throat still spitting out liquid which was the same colour as her crimson curls- and then died in a pool of her own blood. The boy from two made a swipe at the boy from ten, but he blocked it using one of his spears that he had collected and ran into the forest, his blonde district partner close on his heels. A lot of things started happening at once then, the district four girl throwing a knife through the boy from twelve, the district six boy grabbing two large back packs, tossing one too the girl from seven and both of them disappearing into the half-point where the forest and rocks joined together.

The worst seemed to be almost over but then the district eleven girl suddenly appeared and planted an axe into the eye of the district seven boy who was trying grab a small backpack. The girl ran into away with a smirk on her face, still clutching another double headed axe. The ginger boy from seven screamed loudly and tore the axe out of his eye, ripping a lot of flesh along with it. He fell to the floor, desperately trying to keep his left eye in its socket as he howled into the grass in complete agony. After a_ very_ long minute, the boy from seven stopped shrieking and eventually lay still.

* * *

After a little while, the only tributes at the Cornucopia were the Careers consisting of: Jaden Mordeen, Acron Fisica, Saffron Clawford, Harvey Norden and Carmina Bluerose. The others were either dead on the ground or already in the forest or rocks. The bloodbath was over. The Careers sniggered to themselves and nodded at one another in approval and then Jaden spoke to everyone: "Where's Naylye?"

An evil smile crossed Saffron's face and she pointed to a bundle of crimson curls and blood "There she is" she sighed happily.

Jaden glanced at the bloody remains of Naylye and then merely shrugged "Oh well" he muttered "not a big loss, I suppose"

Suddenly, Aaron, the boy from three, emerged from inside the cornucopia with a large navy backpack and ran to the rocks. The Careers spotted him immediately,

"Come _on_!" Acron called suddenly and sprinted after the district three boy, a sword in hand and his allies close behind him.

Aaron began making his way across the grey slabs of rocks, but Acorn and the Careers were closing in on him. Acron then threw himself on top of Aaron and pinned him down in a matter of seconds.

It wasn't much of a fight.

Aaron squirmed and cussed and spat but it had no effect on Acron's strong hold on him. The tall merciless Career sneered down at the boy from three:

"Did you really think you could get away from us? From me?" Acron sneered and then suddenly hurled the edge of his sword into Aaron's ribs. The boy from three screamed loudly but Acron jammed his fist into Aaron's throat; crushing his windpipes. Behind him, Jaden began to giggle and Saffron smirked but Harvey and Carmina only watched with hard faces.

Acron then lowered his bloody sword to Aaron's forearm and cut a huge, deep bloody gash in it. The sword must have broken through Aaron's bone because a deep crunching sound pierced the air. Aaron wailed loudly with pain but that only increased the laughter coming from Jaden. Harvey's face pulled into a frown and Carmina began to turn a little green. Aaron whimpered loudly and tears filled his eyes.

"Oh shut _up_" Acron scolded as he got up from the boy "I don't want to get a headache on the first day" he rolled his grey eyes and then turned to Jaden "Should we go hunt some more?"

Jaden considered this, though it was hard as the loud sobs from Aaron were distracting him. "I can't think with all this noise" he snapped suddenly "Let's go back into the clearing where I can actually hear myself think"

"What about three?" Saffron asked, re-tying her black ponytail.

Acron shrugged "Well he's not going anywhere is he? He'll bleed to death in a couple of minutes. Let's go"

The Career's trudged back over the rocks and they were at the Cornucopia in the green field, in less than a minute. As soon as they were there, Jaden and Acron continued their discussion about what they what they would be doing until nightfall. But then Carmina spoke loudly: "Oh God. I left my knife at the rocks"

Jaden sighed loudly "Go get it"

Carmina nodded once and then sprinted to the south and disappeared into the rocks.

"Harvey, go with her" Jaden said "The little girl could get lost" he jeered.

Carmina reached the spot where she had supposedly lost her knife, but her knife had never left her back pocket, she only used that as an excuse for what she really wanted to do. Carmina ran and jumped across the large flat rocks and then found what she was looking for: Aaron's broken body. She sat herself down next to him; he was breathing heavily and whimpers were escaping his lips. He looked scared to death when he saw her, but she took his cold hand and Aaron instantly knew that she meant him no harm.

"What- what?" Aaron gurgled.

"Shh" Carmina cooed "It's okay. Don't talk"

Carmina ran her eyes over the boy from district three; she knew she could not save him. He was loosing too much blood already, the stuff was trickling down the boulder that Aaron was on and Carmina tried her best not to gag at the sight. The most she could do for him now was stay with him until he died. She knew, from the moment Acron pinned him down, that she couldn't let him die alone. Carmina began to hum a lullaby that her mother used to sing to her when she was a little girl. It was a well known lullaby in district four and Carmina saw Aaron's green eyes widened with interest when he heard it. Carmina decided to sing the lullaby to him, to give him something to hold on to…

_Child of fisher folk by the shore,  
Winds shall sing to you evermore;  
Winter gale or summer breeze,  
Fill your dreams with their melodies._

_Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye,  
Sea winds whisper a lullaby;  
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye,  
Sea winds whisper a lullaby._

Carmina sang softly and Aaron's eyes closed, his chest moved more slowly and his skin grew paler. And then with one last breath, Aaron died.

Carmina didn't cry, crying would do no good. She stood up and took a shaky breath and tried to ignore the stench of blood that was making her knee's wobble.

"Carmina?" A voice sounded from behind her.

Carmina whirled around to find Harvey looking at her, worry swimming in his blue-grey eyes.

"What are you doing Harvey?" Carmina asked, backing up.

"Jaden thought that you would get lost so he sent me to get you" Harvey mumbled and he eyed the dead body.

"I know where I'm going" Carmina said sharply.

A long moment passed and neither tribute said anything.

"How long have you been there?" Carmina asked slowly.

"Long enough… you were singing to him" Harvey stated.

A lump built in Carmina's throat "Yes. I was"

"Why?" Harvey questioned. He was not being rude or sarcastic, he was truly curious.

"Because he didn't deserve what he got- no one deserves that" she whispered and tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

Harvey nodded his head once and he asked: "Did you find your knife?"

"Yeh thanks" she muttered.

Harvey smiled and held his hand out to Carmina. Carmina narrowed her eyes. "What?" Harvey flipped his hand over "It's just a hand" he said gently.

"How do I know you're not going to rip my arm off?" Carmina said and she leaned on a boulder, defensive, just in case.

Harvey frowned "I would never do that, Car. You know I wouldn't"

Part of Carmina desperately wanted to take Harvey's hand but she stopped herself. Who knows? This could be his strategy, flirt with all the girls then take them out one by one. Maybe he already tried this on Saffron? Carmina didn't know. They weren't playing in the training centre anymore, this was the arena and it was for real. Although he _could_ just be a nice guy who is trying to comfort her, he does seem that type… But Carmina quickly shook that theory out of her head. There was no such thing as a _nice guy_ in the arena. But there was something about his blue-grey eyes. Something that Carmina trusted in them…

Carmina's thoughts were interrupted by a boom of a cannon. And another. And another.

"The bloodbaths" Harvey breathed.

All in all, seven tributes had died so far, Aaron included. "Come on" Harvey said softly "we better get back to the Cornucopia before all the good stuff is gone"

* * *

**So… how was it? Good? Terrible? Please let me know! **


	24. Adjusting

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy :) **

* * *

Glenys and Ave were still running into the deep forest, putting as much distance between themselves and the other tributes as possible. Just looking around, Glenys knew that she and Ave had made the right decision to ignore the temptation of supplies at the Cornucopia and run straight to the woods. The forest was alive with sound. You could here crickets croaking and you could see bushes rustling, Glenys hoped that it was a rabbit or something. Rabbit's meant water. All Glenys could see were trees and trees but that was good, she didn't like wide open spaces. The two tributes stopped moving when they heard the cannons:

_Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. _

"Seven tributes" Ave said miserably "I wonder who they were"

"Well, I guess we'll find out tonight"

Ave nodded and then asked: "How long to you recon we've been in here?"

"A couple of hours" Glenys guessed. How many hours had it been since they were released into the arena? Three? Four? Five? She didn't know. Judging by the sun she assumed it was late afternoon- but what guarantee was that? The sun was controlled by the Gamemakers. They could adjust it if and whenever they wanted to.

The two girls sat on a nearby log covered with a thick, spongy moss, which was very comfortable to sit on.

"Did you see anyone else come into the forest at the same time as us?" Glen asked.

Ave nodded "I saw the girl from three, but she went in a completely different direction" she paused "So what do we do now, Glenys?" Ave asked.

"We keep moving and find water. Water is our key priority now, okay?"

Ave nodded her head and then her stomach growled.

"You hungry?"

"No" Ave's stomach growled again, proving her last statement to be false

"Yes" she sighed "But I'm okay"

Glenys got up from the log and walked to a nearby tree, and, with her finger nails, she began to scrape away the rough, outside bark to get the soft, inner bark within the trunk. After a few minutes, Glenys found what she was looking for and sat back down on the log.

"Here" she passed some bark to Ave.

Ave smiled and took the wood "Thanks"

Ave felt so lucky to have Glenys as an ally, she would've never thought of eating trunk herself. Ave nibbled on the soft, chewy wood but then her nibbles turned into bites and she gobbled it up hungrily. Ave had been too nervous to eat anything this morning, despite her mentors pleads, so she was completely ravenous. Sure, after a week of eating the world's most brilliant food ever, it was a little dry and tasteless but Ave ignored it. She would adjust.

After five more minutes of rest Glenys got up and said that they had to keep moving, Ave agreed without hesitation and the two got up and began to travel deeper into the arena.

* * *

The sun was close to setting and Aurora was hunting around for a good tree to climb. There was no way she was going to sleep on the soft earth- that would be foolish. Around five minutes later, Aurora found a large sturdy oak which looked easy to climb. She tossed her braided hair behind her and began hoisting herself up the branches. What she was doing was similar to what she showed the Gamemakers in her private session; besides the fact that this time round, she wasn't trying to impress anyone- she was trying to survive. Aurora made it about six metre's up into the tree, climbing like she did at home, when a sharp, thick twig caught itself on the bottom of her cargo pants. Aurora sighed and tugged her clothing free. She regretted it as soon as she felt the pointed branch drive its way deeply into her ankle and scrape its way across her skin. Aurora fought a scream her eyes filled with tears and her face crumpled. She took a deep breath and attempted to climb a little more up the tree- just to be safe. But as soon as she put weight on her ankle, it screamed in protest and Aurora knew she could climb no higher. Aurora slumped herself onto the closest branch she could find and examined her ankle. There was a large slit on her left ankle with tiny splinters of wood imbedded her flesh, nestled around the wound. Aurora shrugged out of her grey jacket and tried dabbing it onto the wound but that just brought more pain. The girl from three bit the inside of her mouth and screwed up her eyes, fighting a cry. Who knows? A tribute could be near by and find her and she couldn't really run away with the use of one leg only. Unwanted tears overlapped Aurora's eyes but she wiped them away hurriedly. Crying wouldn't do any good. The most she could do now was pluck out the splinters and try and rest, even though it was only dusk. She would have to be patient and attend to her wound in the morning.

* * *

Brecon, Livia and Maya were deeply into the collection of rocks by now. These rocks weren't flat and large like the previous ones; they were boulders which were smaller and round. At times, the tributes couldn't walk, but had to climb and scurry in-between them, a task which they all found easy. Each of them was happy with the location they were in. After about ten more minutes of travelling they found that they were in an area where the pale slabs surrounding them were spread apart and had many holes and caves; which would be great for sheltering them and for hiding.

"Let's rest for a minute" Brecon called to Livia and Maya as he sat on a nearby slope.

"Brecon" Maya said firmly "It is _sunset_. We need to find a shelter for the night, _now._ We can rest when we get there!"

"I agree, but we have been travelling non-stop for hours and hours, Maya. We'll be miles away from any of the others. I'm sure a few minutes of rest won't hurt." He said softly.

"Fine"

The two girls sat besides him and Brecon put his loaded bow down and pulled off his backpack and opened it to see what was inside. He was hoping for some really useful supplies, seeing as he had fished this out from the very heart of the Cornucopia. Inside he found, a packet of dried beef, four packets of dried prunes, two water canteens; Brecon opened the canteens and scowled when he found them bone dry.

"God, how hard would it have been to fill up the bottle?" he muttered to himself.

He continued to search through the bag and found one sleeping bag, and a small penknife. Plus that to his bow and arrows and Maya's blade, they were off to a pretty good start.

"Right. We need to find water" Maya spoke "There's got to be a stream round here somewhere"

"Good thinking" Brecon agreed. "We won't last long without water, right Liv-" Brecon cut himself off when he saw Livia hunched over a boulder. She was clutching her knees to her chest, hiding her face and was rocking back and forth. The sound of her breathing suggested that she was crying. Maya mouthed something to Brecon:

_Chale_

Brecon nodded once and scooted over to Livia's side and rubbed the younger girls' back. She jumped at his touch but then began sobbing into his shoulder.

"I know, I know. It's horrible. But I'm sure he's in a better place now" Brecon comforted the blonde from district eight.

"With Runa" Livia sniffed.

Brecon flinched. He knew Runa had died but he had never actually thought about it until this very moment. He flinched as he remembered seeing the knife tear through her. She didn't deserve that. Brecon mentally whispered a good-bye to his district partner; his district partner who had an odd yet powerful tie to him. Brecon remembered the times in the Capitol when Runa would silently shadow him, and honestly, he wished she was still here. But wishing only wounds the heart. Besides, he wouldn't want to have to kill her himself.

"With Runa" Brecon confirmed to Livia.

Livia smiled weakly and whipped her tears away "I'm sorry I got so upset" she muttered "It's just that Chale was so lovely and everything is just so sudden and-"

"Okay. We get it" Maya broke in suddenly and stood up from the slab she was leaning on. "Look, Livia… Brecon" she nodded at the pair who were still sitting on the boulder. "I know this is hard for both of you. You were both rather fond of your district partners and I know this cannot be easy for you to see them die. But this is the arena and _people are going to die all the time_" She said the words slowly, as wanting to tattoo the words onto her allies' brains.

"And I know it's horrible and whatnot but crying" she glanced at Livia "will help nothing"

"We will all adjust to the idea, we'll have too"

* * *

Kitty stumbled through the tall, dark trees with her double headed axe. The axe was very heavy and uncomfortable to travel with. She debated with herself to leave the axe somewhere so she could trek more easily- but had decided against it. What if she collided with any other tributes? Carelessly abandoning weapons would be foolish at this point. It was very dark now and she hadn't found a place to settle down for the night. Her gut told her to continue moving through the night, to distant herself from the others; but her brain of herself told her to rest, so she would have energy tomorrow. But like always, Kitty went with her gut instinct. She could always rest in the morning. The girl from eleven shook her head, as if to rid herself of her heavy eyelids and quickened her pace through the forest which was alive with sound. A couple of moments later the Hunger Games anthem boomed into the arena and it was so loud that it made Kitty jump and she grabbed her axe defensively. All sounds from the forest vanished and Kitty's eager eyes swept the sky; she _needed_ to see who was still alive. She hadn't paid much attention at the Cornucopia but, from the cannons, Kitty knew seven tributes had fallen. The first face to appear in the sky was the redheaded girl from district one. That surprised Kitty, usually the Careers made it through the first day. But then, after a moment's thought, Kitty understood. The girls from one and two were at eachother throats from the moment they met. Tempt them both with a bloodbath, and surely only one will come out alive. The girl from two must have got to the weapons first. The next tributes were the boys from districts three and five. Right, that meant the boys from one, two and four and the girls from two, three and four were still alive. The next tribute was Damien Tifton from district seven. Kitty smiled evilly as she remembered how she made him suffer at the Cornucopia. That was _her_ kill. The next tribute was the boy from eight, Kitty couldn't quite make out his name, it was Chale, wasn't it? Kitty didn't no, nor did she care. The boy from eight was followed by the tanned girl from nine and then the scrawny district twelve boy. Then the anthem finished and the sky went black and all forest noises returned as if nothing had happened. Kitty leaned against a nearby tree and started chewing on her lip, like she always did when she is deep in thought. So there were five Careers, the girl from three… both from ten… Kitty couldn't name all the remaining tributes, but she knew there were sixteen of them. Another one of them was Gavin, but Kitty knew he'd survive. Hmm, who else? …Oh god, _Ave!_ That little shit from five who had embarrassed her at training! She must be hiding somewhere with that weird district six girl. Another dark smile crossed Kitty's face. She could take them both of _easily_, and enjoy it whilst doing so. Kitty had made up her mind, tomorrow, after she had rested, she would find Ave, and end her… just like she said she would.

* * *

Deaths: 

Naylye Joss, district 1

Aaron Bering, district 3

Orion Bailey, district 5

Damien Tifton, district 7

Chale Chadwick, district 8

Runa Pavlick, district 9

Lucien Damson, district 12


	25. Thirst

**A/N: Okay guys, I think you've all guessed by now that I have no real schedule for updating. All I can say is that I'm sorry that it may take a while sometimes, but I will definitely never give up on this story (that's just not an option so please don't worry about it) It may take some time, but it will be completed. Just please bare with me for the time being. **

**Oh yeh, sorry if this chapter is bad- I'm having a bad week. **

* * *

The squawking of a nearby bird woke Josef up and he sat up immediately. It took him a moment to remember where he was. The arena. Josef sighed and sat up from the log he had been sleeping next to. He grabbed one of the three spears he had slept with and looked around. He was well into the woods by now and was surrounded by large, sturdy pine trees; not very good for climbing, but at least you can eat some of the bark of them. Beneath his feet, the brown earth was very soft and crumbly and was decorated by pine needles, which were surprisingly comfortable to sleep on. The air in the arena was full of moisture but the temperature was rather warm; which was odd for such an early time. Josef yawned and sat on the log for a long minute, deciding what he would do today. Judging by the sun, it seemed to be about eight o'clock in the morning. What should he do with his time? Search for food? Hunt for tributes? Build a shelter? Find a…water source? Josef's eyes widened and he licked his dry lips and his parched mouth filled itself with salvia. That's what he needed. Water. That's the thing everyone was looking for and _he_ had to find it before the others. If the Careers found a source of water before everyone else- they would most likely guard it and kill off anyone who tried to calm their own burning throats. Josef had made up his mind within a couple of seconds and stood up and collected all three of his spears and tried to remember everything he had learnt about finding water. The first thing that came to mind was that it ran downhill. '_Very well then'_ Josef thought to himself. Down hill it is. Josef took a few steps, then heard a twig snap behind him Josef turned towards what he thought was south, and his quest to find water, began.  
After an hour or two Josef was smarting and aching all over and his body did not want to co-operate with his head. His brain commanded him to continue the search but his body was screaming in protest and was persuading him to just shrivel up and die already. The Gamemakers were making the conditions in the arena unbearably hot. Josef had removed his jacket and it was tied around his waist, he was using one of his spears as a hiking stick and he had a thick sweat tricking down from his forehead. The good news was that he was finally trekking downhill; the bad news was that he was making a lot of noise, therefore drawing a lot of attention to himself. Josef decided to rest by a near by tree and he huffed and puffed as he sat down. He was exhausted and his head was pounding with every beat of his heart. After his heavy breathing had dismissed, the area around him fell silent, besides from a slight rustle of leaves that came from a pine tree directly in front of him. His head snapped towards the noise and he tightened the grip one of his spears. Yes, he could see it now- leaves were shuffling behind the tree that was opposite him, it had to be another tribute! Or perhaps and animal? Either way, Josef had to make a kill. He needed a better view though; silently he made his way from the tree and pressed his back to the front of it. His heart was racing and fresh sweat beads emerged from his forehead; whether this was due to the terrible heat or the fact that he was about to make his first kill; he couldn't tell you. Josef could hear a lot more now that he was only a few feet from the mystery being. It had to be a tribute- what animal could make so much noise? On cue, Josef bent his head ever so slightly, just to peer around to the other side of the tree. He didn't need to look far; he saw a brown boot on the base of the tree. Only tributes wore brown boots. Josef smiled. He was about to move in but the muffled noise was so noticeable that it caused Josef to stop and think. Was this a trap? Surely no tribute could actually be foolish enough to make such an obvious noise to draw attention to themselves. Horror crossed Josef's face as he wondered: had- had the Careers found him already? Was this a trap, were they trying to pull him in? Another rustle of leaves sounded and Josef shook the thought from his head. That wasn't the Career's strategy. They were full on and vicious, they wouldn't bother with a trap- they could just take him out here and now. With that all cleared up Josef took a deep breath and concentrated. He positioned his spear in his hand and leapt to the other side of the tree, expecting to be greeted by a shocked tribute.

But there was nothing.

Josef's eyes searched all around the tree and then he started to get scared. Why was there no one here? _He had just seen someone!_ So, if they weren't here… they could have gotten away, but it's more likely that they were hidden somewhere and could kill him… any…second…now…  
Josef heard a low thud from behind him and he acted faster than he intended. In a matter of seconds he had swung around and pinned a blonde tribute down on the earth using all his strength. He used the spears body to block the girls' windpipes and jammed his knees on her arms so she could not defend herself. He couldn't tell who it was; her blonde hair was covering every inch of her face. But it didn't matter either way.  
"Please!" The girl cried.  
Josef hesitated… he knew that voice. Oh God.  
_It was Lilee.  
_She squirmed and shook until every blonde curl was now out of her face. Josef watched her face crumple and witnessed a screaming fear growing in her eyes. He could hear her every breath come out as a whimper and could feel her pulse accelerate under her throat, where Josef still held his spear.  
Josef cocked his head to the side, like a confused puppy but then hissed angrily, like a disturbed snake.  
"Why are you _here_ Lilee?" He shouted in her face.  
"I followed you, I'm sorry!" Lilee whimpered quietly and her eyes brimmed with tears. She had given up squirming now, she lay still and trembled.  
"Why?!" Josef bellowed.  
"I just don't want to be alone" Lilee whispered as tears overlapped her eyes.  
"I told you I don't want allies!" Josef hissed.  
"I know" the blonde moaned softly as she glanced at Josef's spear placed on her throat "Ju- just please" she begged "Do it quickly" she dug her finger nails into the soft earth and braced herself for the pain sure to follow.  
Josef snarled. Why _Lille?_ Anyone else and it would be simple. Easy. Josef couldn't ignore her blue eyes, drilling into his heart like the tough machinery used for killing live stock, back at district ten. Oh God.  
_District ten_.  
All of district ten would be glued to their fuzzy television sets back home, or clutching each other's hands as they gawped at the screen in the square, mentally begging Josef not to end Lilee's life. Josef remembered Lilee's aunt and sister…  
_"Fine"  
_Lilee peeked out of her eyes to see Josef glowering at her. Then, the burdensome pressure forced upon her throat, suddenly lifted and Lilee was aloud to fill her lungs with air. All of Josef's weight disappeared and Lilee felt somewhat confused. Why was he letting her live? She knew his game, kill everyone as soon as possible, right?  
"Wh- what?" she croaked.  
"You heard me" a rough voice spat back.  
Lilee winced but was on her feet quickly. Josef was leaning against a pine tree and was glaring daggers at her. She failed to gulp down the lump in her throat and she pulled her blue backpack, which Josef had not noticed, from herself and began fumbling inside of it, searching for something. Josef peered at her curiously, still holding one of his spears of course. Lilee dug through her matches, sleeping bag and loaf of bread until she grabbed what she was looking for, and held it out towards Josef.  
"Is that… is that full?" Josef questioned eagerly, eyeing the silver canteen bottle.  
"Yes. I found a stream before I started tracking you" Lilee replied and she tossed the bottle to Josef who caught it with one hand and began gulping the water down to banish the flames that licked at his throat. By the time he was done he was gasping for air and the canteen was bone dry.  
"Erm, thanks" Josef muttered.  
"No problem"  
A short moment passed but then Josef pulled his bushy eyebrows together and said:  
"Hang on; you said you were _tracking_ me?"  
Lilee nodded  
"Oh please" Josef snorted "Like you could do that"  
Lilee narrowed her eyes "How do you explain my presence then?"  
"You followed me. Following and tracking are different things, Lilee. Don't get big-headed"  
"Tell me, Josef" Lille spoke as she raised an eyebrow "did you pass or come across any water sources yet?"  
"No" he mumbled as he fingered the empty canteen.  
"Then how is it that _I_ have found a water source? Surely I couldn't be searching for water _and_ following you at the same time"  
Josef glared at her and muttered something through clenched teeth.  
"Honestly, give me some credit" she muttered.  
"How could you have been tracking me?" Josef growled slowly. He began to panic, if Lilee could find him so easily, could someone else?  
"You're leaving some rather obvious tracks behind you, Josef" Lilee spoke calmly as she stepped towards him. "I mean did you even think to demolish that bed of pine needles that you made last night? Did you consider watching where you stepped? They're fresh footprints only a couple of miles back. You're lucky I found you before someone else did"  
Josef hissed under his breath. Ugh, how could he have been so careless? And be shown up by a younger tribute. A girl. Gah. But Josef did listen to her, and understood the point she was making. Her last comment stuck to Josef like glue does to paper. _You're lucky I found you before someone else did…_ What does that mean?  
"Look, Lille. What do you want?" Josef spoke harshly.  
"An ally" she said without hesitation, eyeing him.  
Josef sighed but then stopped himself. At this point in time- having Lilee as an ally didn't seem like such a bad idea. She had already helped him with survival tips and had managed to parch his dry throat…  
"Why would you want me?" Josef asked slowly, taking one step towards her.  
Lilee shrugged "You're strong-" she glanced at his biceps and then blushed "and that would mean…would mean… better protection for me" Lilee managed to choke out. "I'll help you with survival if you keep the others of my back"  
"Deal"

* * *

Brecon, Livia and Maya where at their wit's end. They had scurried through holes, hiked up slopes and trudged over rocks. They had travelled for hours, lacking energy and perseverance, but most of all, lacking moisture. The time had come when all three of them slumped against boulders, and rested. Each and every one of them were drenched in sweat, Lilee would have cried, but she was so dry and drained that it seemed that her eye couldn't produce one drop of liquid to pour out of her heavy eyes.

The sun was throwing itself down on to them and Brecon pulled his backpack off his back and searched it's items until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out the packet of dried prunes and opened them weakly.

"No, Brecon- don't eat those! They're for emergencies only!" Maya objected.

Brecon gave her a cold stare "We are dying from heat exhaustion, and you want to _wait for an emergency_?"

He tore open the bag and held one out to Livia, "Here" he said "They'll make your mouth water"

Livia took the prune gratefully and shoved it into her mouth and sighed. Livia closed her eyes and imagined.

She was back in District Eight.

Back home.

River and her would still be asleep, snuggled up in one bed, her sisters' breath tickling the back of her neck. Her mother and father would be at work, so they could spend all day speaking to their Grandmother and listening to her tales. Then her parents would wearily return home from work, but always had smiles painted on their faces…

"_Livia get down!"_

Livia's eyes snapped open and she saw Brecon and Maya crouching behind a rock; Brecon's bow was loaded and a low growl was building in Maya's chest as she stared daggers threw a crack behind the rock she was hiding under. Livia crouched down, as ordered, then whispered to Maya:

"What is it? What's going-"

Maya silenced her with a swish of his hand then asked to Brecon "Do you have a clear shot from here?"

Brecon slipped into his darker side and concentrated, he pulled back his loaded bow and aimed it at the tall, dark tribute making his way down steep, dusty, pebbly slopes. Brecon aimed at the boy from elevens' throat, but before Brecon could make his first kill- the tribute stopped and crouched to the ground. Brecon could still make the kill, but he was curious to what this boy was doing… What _was_ he doing?

"Shoot, Brecon!" Maya hissed furiously "_Shoot!_"

"No" Brecon shook his head slightly; he could now see what the tribute was doing. He was drinking water.

* * *

_At last! Water!_ Gavin thought to himself as he fell to his knee's and began lapping up the water with his tongue. He had been looking for a water source all day, and he had found it. And since the loathsome Gamemakers were making the weather unconditionally hot, this small stream had potentially saved his life. After five long minutes of hydrating himself, Gavin looked up and recollected his three spears and headed north. He remembered when he first entered the arena, that north was the direction of the forest. Forest's had more resources. Sure, the rocks were good for hiding, but Gavin didn't want to hide. He wanted to fight.


End file.
